Thunderstruck
by blahosaurus
Summary: Don’t blink...not even for an instant . The life of Uzumaki Kushina: Through trials of war and abandon, loss, love, betrayal. When she finally meets someone she had thought lost forever, what will she to do be redeemed from her past mistakes?WIP
1. Prologue

Thunderstruck

_Prologue_

The humid air made the ash stick to our bodies, to our skin and bones and teeth as people opened their mouths to pray but screamed instead.

"Ku...Kushina-onee-chan...it hurts..." a strangled voice that sounded nothing like memories whispered as a little boy's face contorted in front of me, tear streaks cutting through the grime on his cheeks as green eyes hid behind eyelids.

"Hold on, hold Houko-chan, just...please just, **some****one****pleasehelp**!" My small, trembling hands tried desperately to stop the flow of blood but I feared I was doing more harm than good as I peeked the glistening edges of intestines through the cut on my brother's stomach. I knew nothing about stitching wounds; as advanced as my knowledge was, for a six year old, I knew not much more than avoiding situations instead of resolving them.

"Please! _Someone!"_I shouted, but we were alone in the crowded streets, just two more orphans set up for sacrifice. The fire was nearing, I could tell, as a burst of air heated the side of my face.

Any warmth in Whirlpool was bound to be harmful sooner or later.

"Onee-chan..." a gurgle between the screaming the filled the air. Everything was choked with dust and ash and sounds of people fleeing from the attack; a horse galloped suddenly past us, trampling a person to the ground; another man down.

"...Hidden village of the Mist-"

"Don't stop running just..."

"No! Mother, Fa-"

"..Oil based! Not even the rain-"

"Run, run, run,"

"Wake up wake up wakeupwakeupwakeup,"

The word tipped to the side as a building a few houses down collapsed to the ground with a tremendous groan and rumble, producing fresh screams in its disaster.

My brother opened his eyes and stared at me blankly, a stranger as he slipped away, away...

"No! _No_ please no, stay with me Hou- stay with me oh Kami someone help please anyone someone help help help!"

In that instant I wished I believed in some kind of God because if I couldn't pray, I could do nothing at all.

I could barely see as tears collected in my eyes, burning from the heat of the stinging wind as I clutched at the limp body of my brother, blood gushing down my front as I added my own shouts of denial to the symphony.

If only I were bigger, stronger, older. If only I knew _what to do_...

But I was nothing. A six year old alone and helpless.

An explosion sounded, farther away than the last one. Maybe the enemies being driven back, I guessed, looking upwards and seeing flames against the darkness of the night sky which was being swallowed by smoke. Red and orange and yellow against the murky greys and blacks of Whirlpool.

It was...beautiful.

I tried not to sob but I was dying.

With one last tortured, lingering look at my brother, dead and limp and gone, I left the last of my family on the filthy ground and ran away, carried by the shouts of strangers.

_Just another body, now._

OoO

It was just my luck that I decided to steal from a stall at the same time as some other kid as desperate as I for some food.

"Oi you punks! Come back here!" The bellow from the large, beefy man almost made me flinch, but I was too dizzy from the impact caused when slamming into my surprise partner in crime. There was no time to lie moaning on the ground, though, as the stall owner stepped towards us with a large wooden stick in hand, anger set in every line on his stupid-looking face.

Oh-oh. Time to scram.

I stumbled to my feet and leaped away from him, having advantage in speed since a skinny 7-year-old girl was much more nimble than the pig I faced.

"Catch me if you can, ugly!" I laughed, avoiding the forms of strangers as I tumbled away. I looked back quickly to stick my tongue out, clutching the piece of bread in my hand as the apples were jostled in my pockets by my spontaneous running.My grin disappeared and I halted almost instantly, however, when I saw the furious stall-owner towering over the person I had slammed into. He was skinny and even smaller than me, his features petit and graceful as his dark blue hair hung in disarray on his shoulders.

If I didn't do something this kid was going to be beaten to a pulp. But then again if I did something and it didn't work, we might both get beaten to a pulp.

Great.

"Oi, lard-face! Have your stupid apple back!" I hollered, making some of the passer-bys, already distracted by the commotion, stop and stare at the scene we were creating. I leaned back and threw a green apple with all my might. I may not have been the fastest of my kind but in strength I wasn't half bad.

Before Mr. Half-wit could turn completely at my outburst, the apple spun through the air and smashed quite impressively on his head with a force that would bruise. Apple sauce was splattered in the wind.

"ARGH!"

I slid to a stop beside him as he howled in pain, upsetting the dust around us. Yet, to my disgust, he did not let go of the boy he was holding painfully from the scruff of the neck, even as the other stick-wielding hand lifted to cover the offended spot.

"Come on, stupid, are you gonna struggle or not!" I growled at the pale kid who looked at me with frightened grey eyes. I sighed.

Leave it all to Uzumaki Kushina, will you.

Like the animal we orphans had become I leaped and latched onto the man's hand with my teeth, biting and scratching as hard as I could. This action was immediately followed by a shout of pain as the boy was let go, which was great, and a blow to my head, which wasn't that thrilling.

"Shit..." I stuttered as I also fell to the ground, clutching my head, trying to scramble away dizzily. I cracked my eyes open to see the massive man holding up the wooden stick in position to strike, sky cloudy above him, when out of the blue a fisted hand slammed right into his family jewels.

_Youch_

A high pitched squeak slipped the man's lips as his eyes went wide and he doubled, falling to his knees. I looked at the attacker and was not surprised to see the boy I had helped was my saviour. I blinked away the pain and forced myself to my feet as he rapidly helped me up.

"Let's get out of here," he said softly and I didn't even have to nod as he pulled me forward, running. Behind us the crumbled man wheezed something that could have been 'stop them' but I didn't look back as we snaked around people. No one followed his instructions, however. This wasn't a rare occurrence in Whirlpool Village, and everybody was too aware of out monetary problems to stop two children trying to survive.

I was surprised when the boy didn't stop down the first safe alleyway or shadowed corner where we could say our thanks and part ways, but my curiosity to see where he was taking me drowned my suspicion. We passed barred shops, puddle-strewn lanes and collecting rubbish as we neared the part of Whirlpool Village I mostly resided.

"Up here," he said finally as we walked down a gloomy alley lined by slimy walls.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, crossing my arms and looking around as we went up some fire-way stairs that went up the side of the building.

"Just...somewhere nobody will bother us whilst we eat," he said and smiled so placidly that I didn't have the conviction to frown in distrust. If this was some kind of trap or joke I would fight myself out, like I had done many times before.

We came to a stop at the upmost flight and I could feel the cold wind on my skin as the protection of the walls fell away. I looked at the smoky rooftops under murky skies and grinned.

However ugly it was, it was home.

"Through here," he said, pointing to a grimy window he had forced open. I turned my grin towards him and slipped through into what I found was a room which looked as if someone with little resources had tried to clean and furnish. The result was a dust-free yet still mouldy room, walls unattractively sporting streaks of brown. It didn't smell too bad, though, and in the middle of the room were some old newspapers acting as a mat under a legless table supported by four bricks. Some pots and pans were set seemingly randomly around the room, though I guessed it was to catch water from drips. My eyes widened as I looked around.

This was obviously his home, as pathetic as it was, though for someone living in either an orphanage or the streets, I couldn't say much. Nevertheless, the point was that a stranger had brought me to his home. I turned at him, incredulous. No one remotely smart ever did that. If I were stronger than him and decided to take it away, I could, and he would be helpless against it. I could tell people about this abandoned treasure; any shelter away from the constant rain and wind was mercy to anyone.

"Why the hell did you bring me here? Are you crazy?" I asked, not sounding grateful at all even though part of me was quite touched. The boy blushed but didn't look away and for a moment, despite his stature, looked quite defiant.

"No, I'm not. I...you saved me back there. I haven't met anybody else in this village who would risk their own hide to help some stranger. I'm not stupid. If you did that...why would you harm me now?" He asked, frowning. I looked at him in surprise but felt a smile growing on my face, albeit a sad one. Sometimes I couldn't help but mourn that, even as young as I was, I already knew that Whirlpool was a 'every man for himself' place.

"For fun? You look like such a runt," I joked, suddenly more at ease with him after the kind revelation.

Once it was clear someone was not a danger I could never help be nothing but annoyingly friendly.

The other boy looked uncertain for a moment before catching the joking tone and smiling and eyeing my small frame.

"You can talk. Don't forget I saved you too, I don't owe you anything," he stated as if to clear the air, moving towards the table and fishing out two slices of bread from inside his ripped-up jacket. I, however, didn't move.

"Then I really don't get why you've brought me here," I said, as if I were asking to be kicked out. The concept seemed almost impossible, but if I could convince the boy to let me stay...if only for a bit, it would be such a relief. A roof over one's head was a blessing like no other.

"You seem like a good person," he said simply as he set the food down on the wood and then slid two stack of newspapers from under the table, one on which he sat.

"Well, aren't you a quick judge..." I grumbled but neared the make-shift table. The boy smiled.

"No, just a good one."

"And modest too!" I laughed and sat down. I wasn't going to lose anything by befriending someone with a house, I decided. I took out my food. One slice of bread and two apples.

"What's your name, anyways?" I asked as I mentally divided the food.

"Takeo," he responded. I looked up at him.

"Dontcha have a second name?" I questioned. He looked down.

"No. What's yours?"

"Uzumaki Kushina, and you better remember it," I grinned, pulling my red hair away from my face. We stared at each other for a second and I felt something inside me, as if something big where happening and I were in the middle of it all, not knowing what was going on.

"Are we gonna eat or what?" I asked, scared of the feeling. Had I just made a new friend? Was I finally going to outrun this damn loneliness?

"Sure," Takeo said and I watched him with thoughtful green eyes before being distracted by the food he was dividing.

I had probably just made one of the best decisions of my life.

OoO

I slid across the mud, practically screaming with laughter as Takeo tackled me to the ground where we rolled whilst the other children did the same around us, kicking and throwing mud everywhere. Nature seemed to be in war with itself as we scrambled over the puddles, creatures of dirt and water.

I yanked my ankle from Takeo's grasp and leaped forward, almost slipping to the floor once again before regaining my balance with a fistful of mud in hand. I twisted around and threw it at Takeo's chest, who had gotten up to chase me. Someone from his team tried to take me down as I neared their base, where the 'eggs' they were protecting were held, but I swiftly rolled them around so that I was on top and lifted myself from them. I skidded to a stop beside the eggs, grabbed one whilst avoiding a lump of clay thrown at me and then started running back into the fray only to fall straight on my face as the ground beneath me trembled slightly. Takeo's chakra was in tune with the earth element, I knew, and though we hadn't gone to the academy for a long time, Whirlpool had always been strict believers that those with ninja abilities should discover their potential early on.

"No fair!" I spluttered and narrowed my eyes as I concentrated in sucking the water out of the clay in front of Takeo. As expected the suddenly solid mud made him stumbled and fall just as I had. He grunted and then twisted around to hold his snubbed toe.

"Ow! Kushina, that hurt!" he howled as I laughed, trying to get to my feet through the mass of bodies playfully keeping me down as well as trying to take the egg away from me. I kept hold of the wooden form, kicking and scratching and laughing before I suddenly stopped, a chill running down my spine. Surprised gasps and hushed silence was the only warning I got before someone lifted me clean off my feet. I cried out in surprise and immediately started struggling but I was held in a highly efficient clasp.

"Found you," the male voice of my captor said as fear surged inside me. I looked wildly around to see the rest of my friends looking at me with awe and terror, only to feel anger surge inside me when I saw that Takeo was similarly being held by what I knew was a jounin ninja.

Shit.

I tried to struggle out of the grasp holding me, but the hold on me was nothing like the amateur grips of bullies and stall-vendors. This was someone who knew how to restrain someone, for I could barely shift my arms and legs. I glowered furiously as I gripped the wooden egg to my chest.

"Let me go! Who the hell are you? Let me go let me go!" I screamed, trying to squirm even if I knew it was futile, trying harder once I saw Takeo doing the same. The children around us did nothing but watch, knowing that even if they were outnumbered, we were outmatched.

"Keep still, you brat!" The man growled and somehow hit me lightly on the head. All at once I fell still and limp in his arms.

I glowered furiously. There was no way some asshole ninjas were going to arrest me. I didn't pay much heed to the fact that everybody present had probably committed the same robbery acts as Takeo and me, so it didn't make sense that they were capturing only us. Maybe this was about the apartment floor?

"There you go, good girl," The man said and I had to fight in order not to start struggling again in pure spite.

"You sure these runts are the ones?" The woman holding Takeo asked, seemingly not preoccupied that the boy in her arms was trying to flail around ceaselessly. She had dark hair, typical of the region, but her eyes were a piercing purple that was quite disconcerting.

"Yep, I just felt it," he replied, which didn't make much sense to me at the time. I didn't linger on it, however. Instead I brought the large wooden egg up to under my chin and with all my might, before the woman holding Takeo could do more than open her mouth, I threw the round projectile as hard as I could at my captor's sandal-wearing foot. With a sickening crunch it connected with his toes and I too advantage of the moment of pain-laced-surprise to slam my head backwards unto his chin and writhing as hard as I could, using heels and elbows as my weapons. I was dropped on the ground and didn't waste a moment as I propelled myself forward, almost snarling in my desperation to get away.

"Get him!" I ordered everybody who had been rooted to the spot by the surprise occurrence. They didn't waste a moment in doing what I said, however, for we were used to having to spring into action to either fight or flee at a moment's notice.

All the mud-covered children, looking like creatures of the forest with their features covered in dirt, sprang on the man, biting and scratching and punching and kicking, anything to bring him down as I leaped towards Takeo, but the woman was not to be taken by surprise and sidestepped me easily.

From behind a hollow pop sounded, followed by grunts and gasps and cries of surprise. I looked back quickly to see the rest of the orphans around a chunk of solid clay, smoke curling around it ambiguously.

Shit, a replacement.

Not only was I horribly under-trained, I was clumsy and reckless and; I wasn't going to win the fight. But hell, when had that ever stopped me?

I threw myself on the ground and like an animal l threw myself towards Takeo and the woman again, and again, and again, but it was to no avail. I was no match for the ninja, even with Takeo struggling and shouting in her arms, all I was managing to accomplish was throwing mud in the air.

"I would have demanded money if I knew this was going to be so problematic," I heard above me suddenly as a shadow came over me.

There was a brief, terrifying moment of wetness enveloping me, of the world blurring as if I were looking at it through a waterfall before I promptly passed out.

OoO

"This mission is a bunch of crap."

"Kushina! Look, just shut up and keep a look out."

"I am keeping a look out! Not like I can exactly see with all this conveniently placed mist everywhere anyways. Pretty though. Do you have some food?"

"Dear Kami...here. Now _please_ be quiet."

"Mmm, yum, sure."

Finally some contentment in this miserable week.

Ever since being recruited for the ninja academy of Whirlpool over a year ago by those two then-mysterious ninjas, which had previously broken down because of an attack from the hidden village of the Mist a few years earlier, Takeo and I had been training to become a ninja, a title which we had previously viewed as belonging to the people who were failing to keep the country and village in order; the authorities who did nothing to help us. We later found it was much more complicated than that. Ninjas were simply those who were supposed to bring income to the village, those who were, though failing, trying as hard as they could to save us. But with the Great War in full toil, and therefore the Whirlpool Country Lord refusing to pay us anything because of the lack of missions resources, and the danger any ninja was in once out of the village, the work force was struggling to meet any ends.

Once the ninja academy leader had made me understand that, showed me that in order to help Whirlpool I has to become a ninja, I was only too eager to join and soon form the idealised notion that it was the path to the saving of Whirlpool, and all our orphanage friends we still tried to convince that what we were doing was good. It was hard, though, for in those times being a Ninja in Whirlpool was not something people thought one should be proud of.

It was the title of failure.

But I would stick to it, as is my ninja way. I would become the strongest ninja in Whirlpool and put my hometown back together.

I chewed on the rice ball as I thought about our current mission. I didn't have much to say about it except;

It was wet.

It was cold.

And it was boring.

I was under the impression that other hidden villages did not deploy teams so soon, especially alone, and extra especially if they had been barely training for a year, but there we were, hidden in the outskirts if Whirlpool Village and trying to spot any attempts at infiltrations from Hidden Rock Village or as I liked to call them, those assholes on the other side of the mountains.

I finished off the onigiri, licking my fingers and smiling like a cat when in one instant the air tensed, Takeo gripping my arm so that I could feel his fingers _digging _in and; was that fear on my tongue?

And suddenly everything seemed much more serious.

Here we were, two ten year olds hiding in the trees, supposed to go undetected from ninjas trained by war. And we had spotted them, sneaking with the intent to kill our people, to bring us down, wipe us out. To **eradicate **us.

I found anger tasted so much better than fear.

From the corner of my eye I saw Takeo looking at me and I turned my eyes in his direction, keeping the men below us in sight.

'_Lets__ go'_ he mouthed. I stared at him.

_'No.'_

His eyes widened, and he began shaking his head, _don't do it don't do it_ his looks spelled.

_'They will kill us.'_

I narrowed my eyes.

'_Exactly.'_

It wasn't like I was going to jump down screaming bloody murder and attempt a massacre. But if I could follow them back to their camp, find out something useful instead of simply acting like the canary in the cave, testing for poison, the at least this near suicide mission would make some sense.

We waited in apprehensive and excited tension respectively as the ninjas passed beneath us. My blood was lightning inside me, burning from the inside out as part of me urged to jump down and kill the strangers-(_a limb for a limb_)- whilst another side was repelled by the very idea. _There must be another way. _

Takeo and I had been specifically chosen for this mission because of our subtlety skills. True, it had been debatable whether I, who was at best loud and clumsy, was right for the job. I had however developed a way of hiding my chakra signature because of the excess of it I had. By charging it and then 'doubling it over' in a sense, I managed to neutralise it so that to anybody trying to find me by sensing my chakra I would be no more than a civilian.

Takeo, on the other hand, would never be able to do that because of his low levels of chakra, specialising more on concentrating it than spilling it like I did. But because of that same reason it would be hard to detect him for low levels of chakra could go unnoticed by tired or untrained sensors. Most ninjas were unable to sense unused chakra in any case so as long as we didn't do anything drastic...

I tapped Takeo on the shoulder and as he turned to look at me signalled for him to follow me. Before the fear in his eyes could get to me I jumped down and went the direction the Rock ninjas had come from. Takeo jumped after me, looking backwards into the shadows of the misty forest which creaked and rustled around us, where our enemies had dispersed to.

"Kushina, what are you doing!?" he hissed immediately, grabbing my arm. I turned to glare at him.

"We have to find the camp, Takeo, so that we at least have its location. Anything we can find out, be it ammunition or numbers or plans, would be worth the trouble," I left my arm in his hold, stepping closer to that be were brushing. Physical contact was something that had always come easy to me. He looked at me and I could feel his resolve faltering.

"Now we know that they are here, and we might as well follow the track they left, but I'm not good at that. Help me find and follow it, ok? We'll be quick and clean. Ok?" I asked again and he looked at me, clear grey almond-shaped eyes staring.

"This better be worth it. If something happens to you..." he growled in a whisper and I had to smile, grin, sigh a laugh because it felt so good to have someone.

"Let's go then."

We curled around the gloom and fog, slipping under bushes and over trees whilst our hearts thundered and our nerves screamed. We were scared every second; tense, alert, trying to sense oncoming danger so desperately we could barely think. And all the while Takeo followed their trail, peering and searching and kneeling and guessing. His hands were shaking and a bared my teeth to every scrap of moonlight that managed to creep through the foliage. For more than four hours we travelled, avoiding people and losing the track only to find it again, until our very bones were exhausted.

And then we reached their camp.

Once at the edge of it, we shot into the trees and thanked the powers of nature for the concealing smog that dampened our scent and sound. We shook and watched from our perch, feeling terror grow.

There were so many of them, no one who hasn't been in a war can comprehend the magnitude of the sight. Weapons, deadly looking a leering in the darkness, which I had never seen before. People deformed by contraptions on their bodies, moving awkwardly to and fro as other cloaked ninjas sat in groups or alone, tending to a need or other. Threats everywhere; in every graceful movement, in every word shared.

And then, the most terrifying of all where those normal looking ninjas. People who, if it hadn't been for the signature on their bands, could have been from Whirlpool.

People who were going to kill and be killed without a second thought.

I heard a tiny gasp from my side and looked rapidly, panic gripping me with such force that for a second I forgot how to breathe, but Takeo was in no danger. Instead, his face as he watched the ninjas that extended through the clearing as far as we could see was...indescribable. The mixture of retched feelings were scarred in his features like a curse, a terrible, ghastly premonition of defeat.

He turned to me and we looked at each other in despair, even as part of me fought it, even as it said; _we can win this, we can do it, don't give up, don't, don't, don't..._

Slowly he reached upwards and touched my lips, where the moisture ended.

_It was always so easy to make me cry. _

In the silence of the hidden camp we jumped down and ran into shadows.

Two desperate figures holding hands.

OoO

I sat down on the saggy stack of newspapers and looked around.

"It's been a while, huh?" I said to the empty room. The stains on the walls had gotten much worse, spreading to the floor where puddles sat eerily still in tints of green. Our old furniture, which had grown to be an actual table and chairs, a paper lamp and kitchen things, lay rotted on the ground, falling apart like useless memories. The smell wasn't awful though, just decaying wood and mould drifting through the holes on the rood, as well as the window I had to break to get inside.

But despite all the change, it was still that attic room Takeo and I had lived in all those years ago.

I grinned uselessly at the silence that greeted me, just the faint sound of seagulls and boat bells in the distance; a nostalgic sound, and I felt a deep sadness which reached into every memory and feeling and hope. I sat there for a very long time, just breathing the village in, remembering the things that had taken place in it, which was...everything.

How could I leave this behind? Whirlpool. My poor, dying home.

How could I abandon the only thing I had ever known?

My smile didn't drop though. I lifted my chin and peeked at the grey sky through a hole in the ceiling.

"I'm going to miss you," I said loudly, confidently. I tear shivered down my face.

We were going to some foreign village in Kami-knew-where (I hadn't been paying attention, too shocked to even pretend) called Konohagakure. Hidden village of the leaf, that meant. I imagine stone buildings with plants cracking the sides, made slick green with moss, the streets groggy with dead leaves. I imagined seas of trees and foam of dirt. The seagulls would perch on palm-trees. Millions of them.

And as beautiful as I made it, ugly Whirlpool was better.

But we had to leave. When Rock attacked they would let the civilians live if there were no ninjas. We are leaving _f__or them_, I thought, even as I felt sick with guilt.

Had I become a warrior only to flee when push came to shove?

I felt bile rise every time I thought about it, and I breathed hard, calming down my thinking about Takeo's calm, truthful, brave face.

_It's better this way_. He had said, and kissed me softly as I cried harder. It had been strange; he had never comforted me that way and I would never say the kiss didn't mean something for it meant everything it had to; security, trust, promise.

Another deep breath and I found myself calmer after the memory.

I sat quietly in the broken village and clenched my fists, trembling with fury. In one sudden movement I jumped up, out of the window, on the roof and _screamed:_

"I promise I'll come back for you! I'll come back, the strongest ninja of Whirlpool and save all of you! I promise and I always keep my promises!

**It's my ninja way.**"

* * *

A/N

Pretty long for a prologue, I would say.

Started writing this story months ago...when it was revealed who Naruto's parents are (OO, we all went) and though it's not my usual style (which is normally heavy on romance, for fun) I'm loving this. I've written 50 pages and shall hopefully update regularly because of it though I warn you all now- **I write incredibly slowly. **But this, as I say, will hopefully be remedied by the head start.

I do like feedback and though I don't demand it, do keep in mind that they actually remind me I have this pending and should work on it. Heh.

**For those interested to read further**

The story _will_ contain romance, the main pairing quite obviously being het , but keep in mind that Minato, unfortunately, _dies_. But there WILL be a bit of everything. Not necessarily with Kushina but when I say everything I do mean pretty much everything. And when Naruto shows up his pairing will be eventual yaoi.

I don't really recommend that if you don't like this you leave since the story won't centre on it and people should try and keep an open mind, but I want no negative comments about pairings, please, since it is a personal choice of mine and won't change my mind. :)

Also, this story will be in what I find a strange writing style, simply because I can't dedicate myself to jotting down all of Kushina's life in detail without resulting in a 500 page novel and bleeding fingertips! So one chapter can contain a single day/week or 5 years at one go. Especially since this was actually supposed to be a one-shot and turned out into this...monster.

Right, _tell me what you think!_

Also, A/Ns are not normally this long, don't worry!

Next chapter in Konoha! Whoo?

:3


	2. Chapter 1

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter 1_

For days the sky had been blue. The kind of blue you would never see in Whirlpool country. Everything there was dirty grey and churned brown but in Fire country every colour seemed to be sharpened by the constant sunshine.

We had been travelling through war-torn land for a month already, a trip that would have taken little more than two weeks if not for the battles and the security measures. We had lost half of our once 22-man group, leaving a mere handful of bone-weary Shinobi on the run from the devastation of our village, which was quickly disappearing thanks to the war. I secretly thanked Kami that Takeo, my closest friend, had not been one of the casualties of the trip. He was travelling beside me as we followed the leader out of the forest and unto the path under the claim that we were near our destination, the hidden Leaf village, which had agreed to take war refugees like us in.

I scrunched my nose up at the thought and felt a mixture of resentment, anger and gratitude in the pit of my stomach. We were shinobi and yet we were the ones fleeing our country, abandoning it in the promise that we would go back and re-build it in calmer days. But were we just turning our backs on our land to die in strangers' dirt? The very thought sickened me and I pushed it away, buried it under determination. I didn't care what anyone else said, the lifte eyebrows and sighs, I would go back and save Whirlpool. I would not break the promise I had made in the silence of its salty air.

Our feet hit the dirt road and I shot Takeo a glance. He had always been too thin, tall, graceful, and always faster than me because of it. His almond-shaped, gray eyes were peering ahead, dark blue hair caught in a messy pony-tail with his large bangs blown back by the speed. I opened my mouth to engage him in conversation but was cut off as I jolted to a stop, almost stumbling into the ninja in front of me as the leader signalled for a halt. Takeo looked at me as I grunted in surprise and gave me a smile. I looked around with weary eyes. Foreign trees and warm air and danger was all that lived here for me.

"Hey hey, why are we stopping? I though-"

"Shut up, Kushina! There, in the trees. Someone is waiting," the man who I had almost rolled over hissed. I craned my neck to see and, as he had said, two ninjas and a big black blur were stepping out of the forest and unto the path. I tensed at the movement and prayed they weren't more enemies. Not so close to Konohagakure.

"You must be the Whirlpool shinobi. Welcome," one of called out, a big man with one red triangle pointing downwards on each cheek. As I looked closer I saw that the blur was actually an oversized black dog drooling away beside him.

"And you must be the Leaf shinobi coming to direct us to your village. I must thank you for everything you are doing for us," the leader said, relaxing his pose as the ninjas showed us their forehead protectors clearly. Not even the crudest ninja would pretend to be of another village by sporting foreign protectors; it was the upmost cowardly act and a call for ridicule.

I looked at the advancing ninjas with interest and relief. Finally, I was to meet the shinobi who had saved the last of my people.

"Alright! Finally! We're almost in the Leaf. Come on come on come on!" I shouted, not being able to contain my excitement as I jumped on the balls of my feet. A few of my partners sighed or glared. I looked sideways at Takeo who rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"How can you still have energy to jump about?" He muttered, but I could see him smiling. We were all feeling the same exhausted eagerness, the same sad regret that it had come to this. I could feel the tense apprehension of finally reaching the Leaf village.

I looked forwards again as I heard the man with the markings chuckling.

"Quite the enthusiastic girl you got there. But you're going to have to be bit patient, redhead, we still have to make sure you're the people we're waiting for," he smiled. I narrowed my eyes.

"Redhead? My name is Uzumaki Kushina, and you better remember it 'cause I'm gonna be the best Shinobi one day and restore and bring peace to all the countries!" My first was in the air and my voice had risen, earning more glares and eye-rolls and smiles. The woman beside the man and dog was also smiling, brown eyes flaring in the sunlight. As I looked at her face, framed by wild dark hair, I had the distinct impression that she was good at manipulating fire.

"Hope Konoha isn't taking up more trouble than we bargained for," she said, and as I opened my mouth people were already shushing me, Takeo pulling me back and the man laughing a bark's laugh as the dog's tail thump-thump-thumped against the floor.

_We were almost there._

The bodies with blood on their fingers and children with mud on their faces. The groans of pain and the pleads for rescue. The comrades lost and the streets invaded; it seemed, finally, it all had a conclusion.

As I looked up the sky was blue and never ending, stretching away from us and into the future so that for the first time since the evacuation I could push aside the ruined streets of abandoned Whirlpool.

OoO

The fucker was fast. I couldn't follow him with my eyes, no matter how much I tried. One moment he was yards away and a blink later he was in front of me, his blond hair replacing the sun in the sky.

"Oi, get out of my way, Namikaze!" I growled in his face, not even flinching at the speed.

I'd arrived in Konoha a week ago and already deemed this annoying yellow shadow my rival. The Nidaime Hokage had assigned him to take care of me until I became accustomed to the village, and the boy wouldn't believe I had, no matter how many times I screamed it in his face. So I got lost a lot; it wasn't like I couldn't find my way around if I tried. I just liked wandering.

Namikaze stepped sideways away from me, and I winced and squinted my eyes as the sun assaulted my eyes. For a second I was distracted by the brightness of it, the clear blue sky. It had been a great change to leave Whirlpool village, where it rained every day and no one had time for anything but the war. Where the streets were clogged with misery and poverty and ruin. There, every day word came back of dead sisters and brothers, parents, sons, friends, lovers. But here, in Fire country, war was a controlled, subdued thing. I could see civilians walking around town with their necks bared. Children unsupervised. Flowers in shops that served a purpose different from that of meaningless icons of mourning. It made me sick how whilst Whirlpool was disappearing because of the war, crippling under the financial stress that it takes a country to fund a shinobi village and fend off the attack from another one at the same time, other villages like the Leaf were prospering from it. Money was rushing into the ninja town, sustaining the soldiers that risked their lives to protect their country.

"You know I can't do that, Uzumaki. It's not my fault you keep getting lost, you know. You were just about to walk into used training grounds. A stray shuriken could ha-"

"Yeah yeah yeah," I cut him off, waving a hand in his face. This guy was always on the same track, it was no wonder I could barely stand him. I had been evacuated to Leaf by force, not that anything much was tying me to my home country besides the bond between a birthland and a person. All my family was dead, which, according to me, was a normal state for kids my age, twelve and an active piece in the war. I wasn't used to this place's rules and regulation, its care and attention, and I wished this boy would stop giving it to me.

"You sound like a broken record, you know. 'don't go here, don't say that'. Lighten up, man," I said, rolling my eyes. Namikaze Minato looked down at me, his eyebrows lowered in a frown, and I knew what was coming. A sermon of how ungrateful I was being to the people who had 'saved me'. How I should be a _good girl_, listen to him even though he was barely older than me. How I should work more.

But it wasn't like I didn't. I spent all my mornings helping the Inuzuka clan with building, enjoying the company of the great, well-cared-for dogs that roamed their territory. In Whirlpool we were all mutts, skinny and street-wise. The harmony here, though, inspired my dream of peace like nothing else had ever done.

After lunch I usually went around the village doing odd jobs, but my short attention span always caused the unavoidable wandering to happen. I had learnt, through these escapades, much about Konohagakure. The shortness of food was a given, seeing as we were in the middle of a war, and I investigated how the rationings worked. Then exactly what was going on in this side of the war; how this secret village was handling their Shinobi. Turns out most of them were always deployed, but there were always ninjas protecting the village, and teachers running the ninja schools. It was something I admired greatly for it differed from Whirlpool's system.

"Ok! Ok. Don't start," I said, warding the lecture off. Namikaze sighed his resigned little sigh, and I scowled involuntarily as the patronizing noise reminding me of our meeting.

O

Our group had entered Konoha through a great wooden entrance with opened green doors, guarded by ninja who called greetings out to our two escorts. There was a crowd of people whispering and watching as we stepped inside and my resounding _woah_ echoed our arrival as I saw the village.

It was all wood.

I later found out that was the First Hokage's doing, as his blood limit was manipulating wood, but it still fascinated me, who came from a stone village. The spilling sunshine only acted to accentuate the vibrant decorations and green fauna which was littered all over the place. I could barely breathe for all the colours.

"Like it, little girl?" The man, who, after much pestering, I discovered was of the Inuzuka clan, asked me. I grinned a yes at him and started shouting how much I liked it as the people around me tried to shush or ignore me. I could see Takeo looking around with the same awe.

Everything was so...clean.

Inuzuka's voice, however, captured my attention once again, away from Takeo's pale face.

"This is Sarutobi-sensei," He said, pointing at an adult with small line markings going downwards from his eyes. He didn't look too old, yet already had deep laughing wrinkles marring tanned skin. He smiled a welcoming and the wrinkles creased.

That was when Minato appeared.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, materialised a boy with shocking blond hair sticking up crazily up on his head and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. He was dressed in a Jounin jacket and looked calmly at all of us. I started back, not believing the speed. I could have sworn I had just seen a shock of yellow at the end of the road.

"What a show off," I grumbled rather loudly, and Takeo elbowed me in the ribs, even though he was half-chucking himself.

"And this," Inuzuka went on, "is Namikaze Minato. Sarutobi sensei will take Shizako-san to the Hokage whilst Minato takes the rest to the residence where you'll be staying. You'll find food, bathwater and clean clothes ready for you. I suspect you're all tired after the long trip."

And he was right. I couldn't believe we were in Konoha. Throughout the whole journey it had seemed like an impossible destination as more and more of us died. But now...

"You betcha!" I laughed, wounding my arm around Takeo's shoulders. "Can you believe we're here?" I asked him. "Lets go look around!" I urged, pulling him to the side. I was tired, but my eagerness overrode it easily. I knew neither the leader nor any of the other adults would mind. That's how Whirlpool worked. Every man for himself.

"Stop," a voice called out.

That was the first hint I got that I wasn't going to see eye-to-eye with Namikaze. I turned around to see the blond looking at me sternly.

"Inuzuka-sensei just told you that food and fresh bath-water is waiting. At least be polite and show thanks by following the orders given to you."

I stared at him.

"The food and water won't go to waste! Who do you take me for? I-"

"Kushina! Do as you're told. Don't cause trouble for your hosts. Now go whilst I speak to the Hogake-san," and with that he was gone. I glared after him, not understanding. In Whirlpool village I could go a week without eating and no one would notice. Why should there be a difference not that I was in Konoha?

That's when I caught sight of Namikaze's satisfied smile and heard his sigh and decided; _this shithead is gonna be my rival_. I heard Takeo mutter resignedly as I glared at Minato instead. I would figure his speed trick out and defeat him. That would teach him who was to follow orders.

O

"I work, you know," I informed him, trying my best to ignore his sigh. I didn't know what made him be so edgy with me, for I had seen him be much more relaxed with the people of his village. I suspected it was probably lack of trust, which though I understood, still annoyed me. I looked over his shoulder and saw that what he had said was right, there was a fight going on in the adjacent training grounds, where I had been walking towards. I looked at Minato and realised he was talking and that I hadn't heard a thing. I looked at him, really looked at him then, his handsome face framed by the sunshine hair, and almost childish features and as quickly as I could I threw a punch right at his nose. I could have sworn, and did so repeatedly over the following week, that my knuckle brushed his cheek.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Minato shouted from a few feet away, and I was incredibly amused to find his calm dissipated for once.

"Just testing your speed. Sheesh, calm down," I replied. "We gonna grab lunch or what?" I asked. He looked at me as if he thought I was crazy, which he probably did.

"Practically hit you too," I added with a smirk. He continued to look at me but something changed in his expression. As if I had just passed some test, or proven, or disproven something.

Not for the last time I fell quiet for him and felt as if we were somehow understood.

OoO

"Hey Hanasuni! Hi Oruchima! Oi oi Takeo, I'm hungry. Lets go eat," I called out to him from the middle of a garden. The two women I had called out to smiled and waved as Takeo looked down at me from on-top a roof.

"Er...Kushina, I can't right now," he said, clear green eyes spelling out an apology. I had barely seen him the last few weeks and he knew that. I frowned at him though we both knew it wasn't entirely his fault. We had gotten busier as the village came to trust us, and had even started going on minor missions, leaving less time for training and hanging out. Still, I missed him. He was the only true friend left from Whirlpool, the rest of our group having spilled over the new village.

"Go on without me. I'll catch up to you tonight," he called down, a promise. His forehead protector gleamed in the clear sunlight, his dark blue bangs covering the Whirlpool signal, two pair concentric circles beside each other with a wavy line connecting them. Right then he might as well have been one of them.

Inside me, an old fear stirred.

"Aaaaw man," I groused, but sighed a smile. "Ok, ok. See you later," I called out and moved away, ruffling my short red hair that made me look more like a boy than anything else, even with my thin face and long eyelashes. I walked down the dirt street with my favourite sushi place in mind.

Two months, I had been in Konoha. Two months under the sun. I look around the shops I'd come to know too well. Sometimes I tried to remember the smell of the rice paddies and salt marshes of Whirlpool. Sometimes I could swear having heard the call of a seagull or the splash of a wave. Sometimes, I tried to recall how it felt to sleep on hard, awkward surfaces and eat fish day after day.

Sometimes I couldn't.

I had seemed to have forgotten the cold of the stones and the feel of constant mud, dry and wet, on my skin. Forgotten my little brother's face, covered in rain and still spilling red. Forgotten, forgotten, forgotten that I'm not from here.

And that scared me.

"Kushina-chan. You seem uncharacteristically subdued today." I turned around to see Orochimaru walking right behind me, his ever-present smile painted on his face. I suppressed a narrowing of eyes. The guy crept me the hell out. He brushed his long black hair out of his pale face, eyes that were ringed in purple and shadowed with a triangle poking out of the markings towards the bridge of his nose looking at me.

"Hi, Orochimaru-sensei. Just thinking," I replied, careful not to tense. Two months in this quiet village had not ridden me of my paranoia. Orochimaru's smile widened.

"I see. Well how about your share those thoughts over a meal of sushi, Kushina-chan?" He asked. The way he said my name was just plain creepy and I would have laughed then to know how right I was in my suspicion.

I opened my mouth, begging for an excuse to pop into my mind, but I was cut off before I could fabricate a lie.

"I'm afraid she can't, Orochimaru-sensei," Minato's voice came from behind us. I turned to him with relief, but he didn's spare me a glance. "Did you forget our training session today, Uzumaki? I've been waiting for you, two hours already," He said tersely. For a few seconds I stared in confusion, wondering what he was talking about before catching on, I fumbled and fakes a winced.

"Woops! Sorry Orochimau-sensei, another day it'll be," I said, and with that I jumped energetically away towards Minato's serious form, a wave in the older man's direction. The blond nodded respectfully towards Orochimaru and we walked away side-by side. I didn't turn around but I could tell Orochimaru was looking at me and wondered what he really wanted.

"Another day It'll be," he said behind us. I pulled a face.

_Really_ creepy.

I followed Minato to the training grounds, not really sure why go all the way but too distracted to do much else. We didn't talk the whole way there, which was unusual for my normally boisterous self. Instead I entertained myself by watching Konoha life, saying hi to the people I had befriended whilst there. It was a slightly chilly day, though the sun was still shining. My mind drifted away as we left the village and waded into the forest, only zoning out of my trance once we reached our destination.

"Thanks," I said, turning to grin at him, but there wasn't even a hint of amusement in his face. I raised my eyebrows.

"What? You said nothing about training. What are you mad about?" I asked. He looked away, and back again.

"Nothing, I'm not mad. Just..." He trailed off, and suddenly it dawned on me. My grin came back full-force.

"Mr. Rules doesn't like Orochimaru_-sensei_! You think he's a creep too, don't you? Don't you?" I nudged him. Despite my initial dislike, Minato had grown on me, and me on him, apparently, for him to be saving me from Konoha's #1 weirdo. Minato tried to frown, but he didn't really get there.

"Orochimaru-sama is a very respected Shinobi, and a good friend of Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama," He said. I rolled my eyes. More like Tsunade had the hots for him and Jiraiya wanted desperately to impress them both.

"I'll take that as a yes," I teased and grinned. "Well, seeing as you've dragged me all the way here lunch can wait," and as I said that I pulled out a kunai and lunged at him. But of course by the time the blade would have reached him he was on the other side of the grounds.

"Shit I hate your speed. Konoah's Yellow Flash, I'm gonna call you," I grumbled at him. "But where you have the speed I have the strength! Suiton katachi no jutsu!" I hollered, slipping through the hand seals. The leaves rustled as a small amount of swirling water formed a lithe snake that snapped at his ankles.

I could never keep up with him. He was more creative, faster, and had way more style than me. But then again I had more real-life experience, and knew _way_ more of the sneak & sly tactics.

"Come on, this is like fighting against a sloth. Tell me you've got more than that!" He teased, dodging two of my water animals easily. I growled at him.

"Shut up, Namikaze!" Two kicks aimed at his knees missed and he was above me, a kick to my shoulder bringing me down and a shuriken speeding my way. I rolled away and it thudded into the earth mere inches away.

"Shit." I leaped up and away, creating the seal for a wave attack.

"More of the same isn't going to help you!" He laughed. I narrowed my eyes.

"Oh yeah?" I said. All at once a wave of water crashed upon him. He smirked and, as I predicted, didn't even attempt to doge, but tried to battle his way out. Much to his surprise, however, I managed to keep the water there using wind manipulation. I was more talented than he gave me credit for.

"What the..." He said as he was slowed down. The water was swirling rapidly, acting as vacuum chains, disabling his limbs. Two clones jumped out of the water to cling and bring him down, identical girls dressed in black and blue shirt and shorts, legs bandaged up to under the knee, a mass of vibrant red hair surrounding his yellow.

"Get off!" Minato hollered and with one great burst of manipulated chakra the clones were thrown off. But I was already close enough, throwing myself with no grace whatsoever at Minato.

"Gotcha!" I shouted and laughed breathlessly as we slammed into the ground. I blinked blearily from the impact but groaned and closed my eyes again as soon as I opened them.

"Always on the bottom," Minato said with a smirking smile. I growled at the cold metal of his kunai against my throat. Blunt side, too, just to piss me off.

"Yeah yeah. Get off," I said, pushing him away, ignoring the aching limbs and cuts and bruises. Laughing, he got up, pulling me with him. I pouted and glared at his big grin. With a resolute spin and started walking back to the village, not even bothering to brush the dirt and leaves from my hair.

"Come on, you're buying me lunch," I called back. I heard him snort but start walking.

"I'm leaving for a mission tomorrow. And I won. You should be the one buying me dinner," he replied, but I could tell he knew he was fighting a doomed match.

"No way! You should console me with food, and the mission gives you the money to do so! Come on! I'll race you there!" And I bounded forward. I heard him laugh from behind. I was probably the only one who kept trying to win Minato in a race.

I didn't know it then but I would, eventually.

OoO

A/N

Can you tell Orochimaru creeps me the hell out?

Feedback? You left me awful hungry. Can anybody say author abuse?


	3. Chapter 2

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter 2_

"Kushina, Takeo," Minato said calmly.

"Yes," we both replied for we had realised there were several someones ahead, waiting for us. We kept walking calmly across the rocky ground, surrounded by trees and enemies. Not the perfect place to fight an ambush but we had been in worse.

We were currently on one of the many missions we were periodically sent on. Since Minato's two companions from his genin team had already died Takeo and I, who made a perfect duo through practice, had joined him to form a three-man platoon with him as leader. I knew of a few teams who took a long time in adapting as companions and often missions didn't go as well as they could because of this animosity, but that wasn't the case with team Minato. We worked in perfect harmony. Takeo was a long-range fighter, quick-witted and good at spotting enemies as well as having a special skill which acted as a good surprise technique. I was a close-range fighter, not so graceful but packed a nasty punch and knew how to get myself out of tight situations. Minato was the quickest out of all of us, having developed what was called the 'body flicker technique', which was why I now teased him with the name of 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'. He was good at both close and long range fighting as well as back up and was not only quick-witted; his bite was just as bad as his bark.

I was currently at the front of the team, Minato picking up the rear since he didn't need to lead to get there first.

"Takeo, how many are there?" Minato asked quietly for there were probably a few who knew how to conceal their chakra. Takeo subtly made a number of seals inside his sleeves, feeling for vibrations in the ground caused by chakra and after a few seconds said,

"Seventeen. Six east, 160 yards; Six southeast 140 yards; five north 150 yards. The leader in north, I think."

"Okay. Takeo, go southeast, Kushina north. I'll act as backup. I'll take care of the four if they attack and if not we'll deal with those together," he ordered and at his signal we disappeared.

Time for some action.

"Fucking rock," I said as I appeared behind one of my prey, slicing his throat with a wind-sharpened blade of water before his gasp could be breathed out, which was my special technique. I could manipulate both water and wind in a way which consisted of revolving water violently inside a skin of chakra-charged wind. This meant a very potent blade or if I made it powerful enough a vortex that could rip you apart. My favourite tactic, however, was to transform these shapes into animals that could aid me in battle. They still had faults; if earth jutsus or chakra strong enough hit them they would disintegrate like shadow clones. The good thing was that my chakra levels would allow me to maintain many at once as well as the fact that normal weapons simply went through them.

"What- argh!" another one down, two to go. But they had already been alerted of my presence and leaped away from me into the trees.

"Oh great, a chase," I muttered sarcastically. I hated playing with my food.

I stilled, listening. In the distance I heard crashes and knew Takeo was at work.

I formed the seals and whispered the jutsu. Out of thin air swirled forms made of water and wind and chakra. Three large wolves and a bird appeared, all the clear colour of water, though a violence of movement could be distinctly seen within them.

"Lets hunt," I growled. I let one go forward first and watched it slip through thrown shurikens from the left and then explode as the earth suddenly climbed into an obstruction and slammed the wolf away.

"Ok guys," I said for I had used that first wolf as a trial. I went for the one hidden in a tree with the bird. Talons of sharpened wind raked through his face and with a startled cry he fell down where he met my kunai chest-first.

The second one was slightly harder to exterminate (_neutral words to dampen significance) _since she knew how to use the earth element efficiently. It was a danger staying on the ground but I knew that if I stayed out in an open tree I would be shot down, for Takeo used a similar tactic.

Thant's why my bird was a perfect soldier for such a battle.

I heard shouts and commotion not far away and muttered a curse.

"Come out already!" I burst out, leaping towards the offender as quickly as I could, wolf following. We dodged a bush and came upon the victim who avoided the slice of a kunai but my wolf jumped with a guttural, watery snarl. Make-shift teeth latched onto a leg before it was exploded with a cry of pain and a squelch of water. I didn't waste time, propelling forwards and throwing punches as I ducked a spinning shuriken. My fist was blocked, and the next one landed on her stomach as she tried to kick the feet under me. She only half-succeeded, which caused my reflexes to extended my kunai-wielding-hand, cutting her neck open, spraying blood over my shoulder and chest as we crashed on the ground, me rolling away with a grimace.

"Shit."

I got up with determination, quickly sending my bird to scout ahead. It came back to my apprehensive self on its glimmering wings.

"Come on boy," I whispered and with a sprinkling beating of its wings it leaped into the air and took me towards where the battle was taking place. Adrenaline made my thoughts scarce; all instinct and nerve as green blurred by.

I halted and hid as I reached an area where the ground was destroyed, an improvised battle field with trees that had been ripped away and rocks rumbled into dirt and gravel. The zone was littered by large puddles of thick, bubbling mud and large spikes made of earth protruding from the ground and I knew Takeo had been at work here.

I created three big monkeys quietly and observed the fight. A few years ago I might have thrown myself right the fray with little more than a shout as warning, in but I had learnt to refrain myself at least some of the time.

There were two people left in the open, but counting the bodies and looking at their uniform it was possible that the leader had either been killed somewhere else, was hiding or had run away. Since I couldn't see Minato, however, I guessed he was holding the leader off.

The two remaining rock shinobi were up in the trees and I could see they had prevailed this long because they were good at defence.

"Go," I told the monkeys and they climbed the sturdy trees as I ran into the middle of the field, catching their attention and so distracting them from the approaching watery forms. I avoided their shuriken easily and landed farther away where I could see them; one large man with a tangled beard and shaggy blond hair and a woman with long, sharp features and a big nose, hanging from one of the branches upside down from her chakra charged feet.

I could sense Takeo hidden in the shrubbery but ignored him, opting for throwing clumsy shuriken in a way which made the two ninjas leap from the trees right into my monkey's fangs.

They gave strangled cries and fell with a spray of blood unto the ground where the earth suddenly turned to mud; Takeo's doing, for he could manipulate earth in a way which, combining it with water, meant the ground could turn soft and trap the opponent or harden and attack from below. And when the opponents jumped away from the ground thinking they had found the weakness to Takeo's attack he would shoot special-made arrows, constructed from a self-made mud, poisonous to the touch.

The bodies slowly sank into it mud, a gurgle of open windpipes as they melted into the floor.

"Find Minato," I told the monkey and they were off as Takeo jumped down beside me, and then away as we followed my waterlogged animals.

No time to talk of breathe or think.

It was soon clear where the battle was going on when a sudden bolt of lightning struck a tree a few dozen yards away.

"Holy fuck, what was that?" I asked. Takeo looked at me and then ahead, lips pulled tight. He had a strong weakness against lightning jutsus and we both knew it. Apprehension built inside us.

"Fuck!" I repeated under by breath as more lightning sounded with deafening cracks of wood and rock. I thanked anyone who was listening that Minato was fast.

"Kushina stay back, we don't know what the situation is," Takeo said sensibly. I glanced at him and went going forward.

"I know exactly what the situation is. Someone is trying to fry Minato's ass with lightning and I have control over wind element. I win," I growled.

The fight was taking place in a mess of charred trees and destroyed rock, creating a dangerous pit. Minato's quick movement was flickering from place to place, a whirlwind of action as the enemy, a woman with her mouth and nose covered by bandages and a Rock Village forehead protector keeping brown hair from her eyes, tried to keep up with him by continuously moving and though she was not as fast as the Yellow Flash she could keep up by swapping deadly shuriken and lightning attacks with the Konoha prodigy.

"We're not as quick as Minato and would probably get in the way, not to mention get struck by her attacks if we ventured into that mess," Takeo glared. I cursed under my breath. "I'm the long-range fighter so I'll try to trap her with my mud. That will hopefully give Minato enough time to get a hit. Cover me," he finished. I assented and stood before him, seals ready and a water made lynx, my favourite type of simulation animal, trembling beside him.

I could feel Takeo's chakra flare as he preformed the ninjutsu and knew he was at him limit as he gasped behind me. With a sudden grinding of earth the ground under the woman had melted and caved in into a mess of churning mud. Minato threw three shuriken in quick procession. One hit her arm, another the woman's collarbone and the third sliced right into the stomach with a spray of blood and a cried gasp from her.

"Yes!" I cried out in victory but before I could even turn to smile and comfort Takeo I watched, horrified, as she quickly formed seals; the tiger, the dragon, the horse, and knew she was aiming one of her lightning strikes at Takeo, who had caused her defeat.

I threw myself at him mindlessly, forcing him unto the ground and covering him with my body right in time as a spear of charged electricity reached us. The lynx that had clung to me in protection took the brunt of it and burst from the sheer force of the attack. I tried to raise wind chakra around me but the attack was simply too fast and the electricity struck me, setting my nerves on fire, fraying them, butchering my senses until all I could do was hear screams and the world enfolded by pain. Blinding white inundated my vision and I could feel nothing except the electricity that had scoured through my veins, coughing up blood as my lungs leaked.

_Focus_

I ordered myself as I slipped in and out of my surrounding, trying to get a grip and fight through the pain. I opened my eyes blearily to find I was looking up instead of down, Takeo and Minato's faces hysterical above me.

_Focus. _

"Shit! Shit, I should have gone for the vital points!" Minato was saying as he tried to perform some first aid on me along with Takeo, a brief, soothing relief of healing in uneven places.

"Kushina? Kushina say something. Come on Kushina don't- come on! Kushina?" Takeo kept repeating. I tried to opening my mouth several times as my eyelids flickered and finally got out,

"Fuck...that h-hurt," before passing out.

O

The world attacked me as I woke up to a buzz of pain on my skin, but it was not nearly as bad as when I had been knocked out. The first thing I did was take stock of my surroundings; temperature provided it was night time. The noises were of a crackling fire, the hoot of night birds and crickets and a running stream as well as someone moving about, probably cooking what I guessed, through smell, was roasting fish. I lay there, straining muscles to make sure they were all functional.

"Fuuuuuck," I moaned as I opened my eyes. Takeo was by my side in a moment, smelling like smoke and earth.

"Kushina! Oh Kami, thank...shit," He said shakily and him cursing only made me chuckle sorely.

"For a second there we though...well, I'm just glad you're awake. Try not to move much," he said, hands on my forehead, brushing me hair back, a cloth of something ripped mopping at my brow. I ignored his words and protests completely and sat up, hating lying around after getting injured. I simply found muscles cramped and I ended up even more tired than if I moved about.

"I'm ok," I smiled. He looked at me, exasperated but with relief clear on his face.

"You're such a moron," he said and his face darkened, looking at me seriously. "Don't you do that again." I grinned and shrugged, my look steady. I tried not think about my muscles.

"You told me to back you up didn't you?" I asked, rhetorical, and looked at the fire where fish was indeed cooking on sticks.

"How long have I been out? Where's Minato? Man, I'm hungry," I said, patting my empty stomach painfully.

"Minato's out getting more wood and you've been out a day and a bit. Konoha was too far away so...well, we're inside Fire Country borders so it's safe to make a fire," he shrugged, still looking concerned but he was used to me. He had a calm, logical demeanour compared with me who was at most times a fuzz of sound and action. I looked around and found we were just at the edge of a typical Fire Country forest, taking the shelter of the trees but close enough to a stream, making a perfect camping place. Hungrily I decided it best to move closer to the fire for it was chilly this time of night as well as it was closer to the food.

I struggled to get up on shaking legs whilst Minato tried to both pull me down and help me up at the same time in exasperated concern.

"Honestly Kushina, what am I gonna do with you?"

Several bandages covering minor cuts strained under the movement as I stumbled forwards towards the fire, Takeo's arms around my waist as I tried to tell him I didn't need his help even though I clearly did. Despite my protests I leaned on him confidently, having been in this situation, and vice versa, more than a few times before.

"That bitch sure got me, huh?" I joked, scratching at one of the plasters on my face. Takeo pushed my hand away and soothed the bandage down. His green eyes smiled sadly as he squeezed me slightly against him.

_Like old times_ I thought, and laced my hand with his.

"What do you think you're doing?" A voice sounded angrily from our right and, startled, we turned to see Minato walking towards us, packed with wood. Takeo helped me down beside the fire slowly and moved slightly away as Minato dumped the wood on top of a small pile.

"What?" I asked, confused at his anger. I stared up at his towering form, shadows flickering with the dance of the fire.

"What? What? After that stupid stunt you ask what? What the hell are you doing walking around after that? For fucks sake what the hell are you thinking?" He didn't even glance at Takeo who didn't say anything, meaning he agreed with Minato but not in such an active way. I gaped at Minato, absolutely shocked at the outburst and realising I had never seen him get really angry before. I had barely ever heard him curse.

"Stupid?" I asked, getting angry in return. "Stupid? How the hell was protecting Takeo stupid?" I said loudly, instantly getting incensed.

"It was stupid protecting him like _that_! You have wind manipulation as a skill and could have stopped the attack with that! You can't just throw yourself in front of the first jutsu that comes your comrade's way!" retorted Minato. I scrunched up my face at his words.

"You're wrong," I said soberly. I had enough experience with this.

"I have seen a whole country go down because of exactly that. Being too afraid of giving your life for others, however stupid it may seem. I had no idea if I could do a potent enough counter fast enough. My chakra only protected me because it was me; it's different if it's someone else, you know that." Minato tried to interrupt me but I went on, angry.

"No, shut up. You're the leader and should know this. Teamwork is the most important thing. The most important. A failed mission can cause a world of trouble but a place that doesn't work together is doomed from the start. So don't you fucking tell me off for saving the life of someone I love because you would have done the same for him, and me. And I would do the same for you. And there is nothing you can do or say that can change that," I finished savagely, staring at his wide blue eyes. There were few times when Minato was struck speechless, and this was one of them.

I could feel the scowl cramping up my face and relaxed my muscles even though frustration still thrummed inside me, made heavier by the lead of sadness Whirlpool always caused. I looked at Takeo and he was staring at me, so understanding and sad and sorry and...

I could barely stand the look. This was Whirlpool in his eyes. An old tragedy now, worn, and I thought, _Shit, will we ever let it go._It wasn't really a question because everybody knew that a real ninja lived for their country and people.

And we had failed ours.

I took a deep breath and smiled. I didn't fake it. I never faked smiles. This was how Uzumaki dealt with things. We didn't shush things, we shouted them. We didn't lock things up, we cried them out. We didn't turn away from problems and promises. We faced them with a smile. A real one, even when it hurt. We pulled them, dragged them out by the neck. We let them grow slowly, we used them as weapons, shields, truths. A smile didn't mean quite the same to me as it did to other people.

"But fuck, we know that cause we're gonna make it. A promise is a promise. One day Whirlpool will be back and we're gonna be there. Right Takeo?" I asked, grinning at him with tears in my eyes. The fire cast shadows like a puppets, controlled so that they jumped along his face and eyes.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Don't think we won't call on you for it. We're just trying to make sure you get there, not fried in the way, you know?" He half-joked. His smile was strained.

"Yeah," I said quietly, and I smiled as his hand gave mine a single squeeze. The conversation, however, was over as the night-time silence stretched. I ignored the other two as I turned towards the fire where the fish were charred.

O

The pain was lazy inside me and I was dead tired, but sleep would not visit me. I lay there looking at constellations I couldn't be bothered to learn and avoided thinking about the day. Instead I thought about Konoha and the boys. The dogs, the roads, the mountains. I thought about the sunshine and then thought about Takeo and his eyes and our past and my thoughts stilled. I sighed. And then I heard footsteps and sighed again.

"...Hey," Minato said as his feet stepped into view beside me. I didn't turn my head, though not out of anger.

"Hey," I replied. He sat down beside me, figure subdued in the darkness.

The breeze crawled, lethargic over us. The stars were invisible to my eyes now; all my attention on him. I could never help it happening.

Silence laced around every noise between us.

"You know...you always shout about Whirlpool but you never talk about it," He commented and I knew he hadn't asked anyone before, not the rest of our scattered comrades in Konoha (_Whirlpool doesn't stick together_) or even Takeo, resting by the dozing fire not that far away from us.

"No one really asks. Whirlpool is history to most people. No one wants to know history in the middle of a war," I said nonchalantly. My hands were numb under my head but I didn't shift. I was almost nervous.

"I want to know," he said. I took in a sharp breath, not because I was surprised but because...Where could I begin? If Whirlpool had ended, where was its start for me?

_Was it the first time I was cared for by one of my people? _I remembered Takeo and I going every morning of the first years of my memory to an old woman's house to find her wrinkled, fading figure waiting for us with a creased smile and scraps of food, as if we were stray, loyal dogs. Her watery white eyes would stare half-blindly at us as we ate and I chatted. Two filthy figures in large scraps of clothing held tight by various ropes and patched together by a million threads. Takeo would eat silently on the dusty floor, leaning his back against the woman's legs contently whilst I talked through meagre mouthfuls of bread and tea and, if we were lucky, fish. She would nod and smile and her voice would creak when she asked questions to these children who had nothing to do with her except that they came from the same place. It was us who found her dead in that same chair she always sat on, hands that had patted our hair and knit our clothes, cold and hard. Takeo had thrown up on the doorstep and we had cried until we saw it was useless.

_Or was it the first time we __saw the enemy_

Like ever memory in Whirlpool, Takeo was threaded to it. We had been half-playing, half-training in the shadowed, lively port of our village. Takeo's laughter rang out as we threaded around people as fast as we could, causing commotion. Out hair was dirty with the mud we had been warring with, our eyes shining like only children's can. We were like cats on the run.

The first scream that froze us was followed by the sound of cracking wood and then noise, just noise like a physical wall, stopping our steps, turning every head in the vicinity to the source of the trouble.

The confusion had been immense. It swallowed everything up. It blurred one moment with another and made a panic until all I could remember was two sides;

Ours and Theirs.

And when I saw our side fighting for what was ours, Takeo and I trembling against each other, I knew I had found what I had been looking for. Defending what we loved, living for what we defended.

Takeo had pulled me away from the fight saying _quick, quick_. We wound through streets that were as part of us as our own veins and hid from the sounds of battle that echoed on forever.

Takeo's eyes were intense as he looked out, shushing me, silent feet pushing into shadows. We were made for this. We threw rocks with exploding tags on them to the enemy. It was easy to differentiate. They were them and we were us.

That was our fist duet. Our first duel.

"Whirlpool was...messy," I started, closing my eyes. Kind of like me. "It was grey and dirty and wonderful. There were mud-banks to play in, and children everywhere. We were all strays. There were no dogs in Whirlpool, just anorexic looking cats and anorexic looking children. And we loved it because it was everything we knew. We played ninjas in the docks; learn to walk on water real early. Takeo and I would clean boats for food. The village was fairly small and fairly broken. Power struggled everywhere. How do you cope with invasion and civil war at the same time?" I asked rhetorically.

"Whirlpool was...home. We knew every street. We could talk to anybody, do anything. We were so free it was sick, ya know? Takeo is so sweet looking he would distract shop owners as I made water shapes to steal food. My control wasn't as good then so they were always small and would wet the bread," I laughed. Minato continued in his silence and I with my choppy explanation.

"It always snowed in winter and though sometimes it was fun it was often the worst time of the year. Because of the cold ya know? I loved summer because it was fairly hot if not a little misty and we got to spend the long days at the docks. Takeo loved spring because the mud would be wet or crusty in patches, perfect for playing.

Whirlpool wasn't great but...it was perfect for us, if that makes any sense. I dunno. It was ours."

I turned my head to look at him and found him looking back and maybe I fell in love with him then because he held no pity in his eyes, only understanding, and it was what I had been searching for all my life.

He reached out and brushed the hair out of my eyes and said

"Yeah."

**OoO****oOoO**

**A/N**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing which is not mine

Another chapter! Yay?

May not update next week just because I'm not home from Saturday to Wednesday due to interviews (wishmeluck), even though I do have the chapter ready and stuff, so yeah maybe on Friday.

I would really like some feedback on this story! Especially regarding the timing (the way some scenes are in detail and other are not, or the way large periods of time are skipped). It's not like I can really change it very much because, firstly, I've written too much of the story to do so and secondly I wouldn't be able to write out Kushina's whole life in detail, but it is quite 'distanced', the writing style, and I'm just wondering if that kind of ruins the feel of it or something... So any opinions would be welcome

So, yeah! Review! That way checking my e-mail every 5 minutes can be attributed to something other than insanity. Whoo.

Thanks for reading:3


	4. Chapter 3

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter 3_

This war is never going to end..." I heard Takeo whisper. We had arrived in Konoha a few hours ago from a complicated assassination mission. We had been ambushed twice and, once again, witnessed the horror of a full-on ninja war battle. The speed of it was so great that blood hangs in the air every second it goes on, the clang of metal a ringing echo to the screams.

Takeo, Minato and I were lying on our backs on a curious training ground with only three worn stumps of wood on one of the sides instead of training equipment. Apart from that it was a roll of grass surrounded by Konoha's forest.

I was favouring one of my arms, my left having been broken in the second ambush. Takeo's ankle was fractured and Minato was no worse for wear except for the same old scratches and bruises that decorated all of us. But even if that was the short list of our physical wounds, it had been a horrible mission. Not specifically horrible in ninja terms, especially in the middle of a war (_when nothing was quite horrible enough_) but Takeo had always been soft-hearted, and the infiltration to a heavily battling area had been a shock after so much time of sneaking missions around Konoha. In Whirlpool I used to take care of him, not because he couldn't defeat his enemies, but because he couldn't kill his demons. Every kill he made was added to a record in his mind. Every death he witnessed was a life he failed to save. My idea of peace was much larger and crueller; and realistic. His idea of peace was perfection, nothing like the way we used to live. Our life was nothing but survival in the dirty streets of Whirlpool. Him and me against a world that was eating us alive. Living on filthy money, barely like ninjas at times. When I thought about it I wondered why I missed itWhy I wanted to go back and save it. _Former _Whirlpool, now. Something lost and forgotten once we died, a mere hitch in history.

"Takeo..." I started, squinting at him in the gloom. His dark blue hair was almost black in the lack of light, but his eyes were just as green. Pale, feminine features shadowed dramatically. He was wearing Konoha clothes, light materials in earth colours. My oldest friend, how could he be giving up now? After everything?

"How can you say that?" I said, suddenly flaring in anger, "of course it will end! No war lasts forever!" I said confidently. He looked at me then with sad eyes.

"It'll last forever for Whirlpool, won't it?" He asked quietly. I could hear Minato shift uncomfortably beside me. This was one of those times when it was clear that he was from Konoha and we were from Whirlpool and I wondered if he wanted to know how it was like to be us or if he didn't even want to think about it.

I sat up quickly, glaring down at Takeo.

"No! It won't! One day I'm going to become the most powerful Shinobi and pull Whirlpool back together! And you'll be there with me when I do it! The war will end and don't you fucking suggest otherwise! The mission we did today, that's one step closer to victory and you know it. Two months ago Konoha was backed into a corner and now look at us! Don't say the war won't end because it's just about to!" I said and added emphasis by slamming my fist on his shoulder. He grunted in surprise but I was already up on my feet, kicking him in the side. I grinned because it was useless to cry.

"Come on Takeo I know you've got more fight in you than that! Water Clones!" I shouted. Splashes of water announced the arrival of 3 more Kushinas which leaped on Takeo, laughing, edging him on. The war would end but we would never stop fighting for what we believed in. I would make sure of that.

We moved away, Takeo protesting, pushing at me but not drawing any weapons. One advantage I always had over him in scuffles was that not even playing would he slice my clones up. It irritated me and amused me in equal measures.

"Owowow Takeo, my arm!" I whined as we rolled away, a whirlpool of us across the muddy grass. I looked up between his apologies and caught sight of Minato looking at us with those blue eyes I would never forget.

For the first time he seemed to understand why I fought so hard, why I screamed and shouted about saving the world. I knew, then; not in the battlefield, not in front of a patriotic crowd, but in the shadow of a completed mission and in the solitude between a fighting country and a lost one, that he would be not only willing to die for Konoha, but to give everything up for it.

I wondered if I would do the same for a village that wasn't even mine.

OoO

"Jiraiya you stupid pervert! What the hell where you doing in the bathhouses this morning? Tsuande almost trampled me to death ya know! Oi! Are you listening to me?!" I hollered, stamping down the street to where Jiraiya, a 25 year old lecher with spiky white hair and small red markings dropping from his eyes like tear simulations, was talking to some big-breasted civilian (_for a change_, I think sarcastically), actively ignoring me.

"Oi Jiraiya! Jiraiya! Are you listening to me?" I bounded forward, red hair blinding me for a moment before it bounced back and I was in Jiraiya's face, the girl's disgruntled noise of surprise sounding from behind me. I could see Jiraiya giving her a disappointed and apologising look as she walked away. The older man turned to me reluctantly.

"It would be impossible not to hear you, brat," he growled at me. I huffed back, hands on hips, feet wide apart. Jiraiya rolled his eyes at my pose.

"Don't be so offended, I would never spy on you," he soothed, patting me on the head. I glared at him. "You're barely a girl, after all," he said and ducked as I threw an obvious punch his way.

"Oi!" I screamed. Sighs were heard behind me as Jiraiya laughed.

"Do you always have to me so damn loud, Kushina?" Teishi asked. He was from the Inuzuka clan, the son of the man who had first escorted me to Konoha, and I had met him whilst working with their family when I first arrived. He was just as brass as me but seemed much more calmed because of his sensitive ears and wider knowledge of the etiquette required to live in a community like Konoha.

With him was Takeo, looking resigned to the looks I was getting, Minato, who was grinning at Jiraiya, enjoying his teacher's suffering whilst Sakumo, an older boy from the Hatake clan, leaned on Kasshokumaru, a cream coloured female dog as big as a small pony with black markings on two of her paws that made her look as if she were wearing miss-matched socks. Sakumo was a good looking boy with a masculine face; a fairly square chin and dark eyes that were as sharp and intelligent as he was. But the most attention-attracting thing of him was his hair, an unusual silver which flared upwards and then hang on his back in a low pony-tail.

I turned back to Jiraiya and was surprised to see Tsunade and the brat of Nawaki, Tsunade's little brother, there with him. Tsunade was a young woman, thin and athletic and mainly dressed in fish-net, her creamy-blond hair caught in a high pony-tail with bangs falling beside her forehead. She was coolly observing Jiraiya with her trademark glare and I knew she hadn't forgotten this morning's adventure either.

Before Tsunade started destroying half of the village with her temper I strode over to them, dragging Takeo with me from the front of the shirt, much to his protest.

"Oi, oi! We were just about to go to lunch, how about we all go together?" I asked. Jiraiya looked at me and paled.

"That's another way of asking us to buy you lunch. No thanks, I have no desire to become bankrupt," he said, waving me away and looking around, no doubt for some other female prey though I would bet anything all he wanted to do was stare at Tsunade. I pouted at his words.

"Heeey!" I whined. Sakumo chuckled beside me as Teishi whined about how _loud_ I was being. I turned to Sakumo and bugged him to buy me dinner. Sakumo was one of the elite in Konoha, extremely smart and talented as a Shinobi. Nevertheless, I always found he cared far too much what people thought of him. He kept an immaculate reputation and was already becoming famous outside of Konoha as the 'White Fang' because of a lightning based attack that looked much like one, along with his trademark chakra knife which he always had strapped to his side. Despite that he was one of the most loyal people I had met and knew he would die and kill for me on a moment's notice.

"Minato. Well done on your last mission," I heard Jiraiya say, and saw the older man was in front of the blond boy, a hand on his shoulder and that look I would kill for in his eyes. Jiraiya loved Minato like a son, I knew, and was just as proud of him. I would barely admit it out loud but Minato was probably the strongest Shinobi out of all of us. He had already invented several techniques and was developing one which made the hairs of the back of my neck stand up every time he attempted it.

"Minato always gets the praise for all the missions," I stated, rolling me eyes. Tsunade looked at me with a smirk.

"Well I hear it was Minato who saved your ass on the last one when your big mouth got you into trouble," she said, making me blush and scowl.

"Hey, hey, hey, this is the future best Shinobi you're talking to. And it was my big mouth which got us out of the mess in the very end!" I said, crossing my arms and sticking my nose in the air.

"Oh boy," I heard Teishi sigh and turned to glare at him but was distracted when something tackled me full-on. I would have toppled backwards if Minato hadn't caught and pushed me upwards in time.

"OI!" I shouted at Nawaki, who had decided it time to leech himself unto me like the pest he was.

"Get off will you!" I ordered to no avail. Nawaki looked up at me with his typical big-eyed expression and hollered,

"It's my birthday in two months!" I smirked at his enthusiasm.

"Wow, almost twelve years old. Too bad you still look like you're eight," I sniggered, something which he didn't take to kindly.

"Hey, hey, hey," he imitated me, "this is the future Hokage you're talking to!" Tsunade laughed as her little brother shouted the phrase for all to hear, which wasn't a rarity. The boy was like a broken record with the Hokage dream.

"I know, brat," I said, and he looked up at me with surprised eyes. "Now are we gonna eat or what?! I'm hungry!" and for added emphasis Kasshokumaru barked boomingly.

"Yeah ok, ok, no need to shout it," Teishi muttered.

In the end I dragged even Jiraiya to lunch to my favourite Sushi restaurant and practically the only place I would eat in. I looked around the crowded table contently, Minato on one side and Takeo on the other whilst Kasshokumaru's head rested on my feet, the dog taking up virtually all the space under the table. I felt a content smile on my face for I loved this, being surrounded by friends in a way which made me almost forget the war, and the failure of Whirlpool.

"Food, food, food!" I shouted, much to Teishi's chagrin. As we all talked, me most noticeably loud, I heard Jiraiya lean into Tsunade and say

"She's like one of the damn boys," with a smile in his voice. This, however, only cause me to Jutsu into a naked man. Much to _everybody's_ chagrin and Takeo's eternal traumatising.

OoO

"I'm sweating like a pregnant bitch," I swore, fanning my face. Fuck it was hot. Summer was in Konoha and announcing its presence by smothering the village with the kind of constant sunshine that felt like fire. Every time I stopped under the scorching rays I could feel my skin heat up until I thought of exploding.

"And smell like one too," Minato joked, fanning his face for different reasons. I glared at him.

"And you look like one. Now shut up and let me concentrate on not being hot," I said, wrinkling my nose, earning a rolling of eyes from Minato.

"We didn't even finish training," he said just to piss me off, knowing I would take that as giving up. He looked down at me where I had collapsed under a tree in the middle of fighting. It had been funny at first for I had done it so suddenly Minato had thought I had passed out and flickered over with concern a movie on his face until I laughed in it.

I stretched against the prickly grass, trying to get no body part to touch another. My long red hair was spread around my head like the rays of that bastard sun.

"Training? It's too fucking hot. Kami, I think I'm dying. I'm _melting_. No wonder we haven't been attacked for a while, the opposition must be cooked to a crisp," I complained. Minato settled for rolling his eyes again.

"Oh stop your whining. Let's go to the river then. It'll be unused in this part of the forest. We can even train there," He suggested. I perked up at once but complained just for the sake of it.

"You and your obsession with training. It's unhealthy you know. You're a training freak of nature. Get out," I stated as I got up. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow because I knew I was lying. I actually loved his eagerness to learn; his hunger for knowledge and enthusiasm when doing so. That's why Jiraiya liked teaching Minato so much, I knew, and why I loved training with him. But who lets the truth come in the way of a capable insult?

We walked in silence the few minutes it took to arrive to our destination, a warm kind of quiet that settled around us comfortably like the breeze that curled around our bodies, a moment's relief. I felt no need for my babble; there was enough sunshine in the air.

"Aaah, this is what I'm talking about," I sighed as the large stream came into view out of the protection of trees. The sun made it glitter with action as it rolled past and I felt calmer than I had in a very long time.

_No still bodies in dirt, __no__ stripped ligaments and screaming bones in Konoha's summer. _

I immediately started stripping to my under-vest and protective shorts, not even glancing at Minato whom I had sensed was paused.

"There is nothing better than water!" I exclaimed and a lynx made out of it jumped easily from the river and trotted over its surface as I splashed forward, not shy of the slight coldness. I sighed in pleasure as I dipped in and the noise of the always chattering forest was replaced by the hollow sound of rushing liquid. I surfaced again and the pure contentment made a flurry of self-made birds spring out of the water and take flight in glimmers and flows, dripping away into nothing as they got farther away.

_No missions to kill or die. __A moment, if only that, of stillness._

God I loved wasting chakra.

I turned around and Minato was looking upwards at where my birds had gone. His face was open, his posed relaxed with his bared neck and weapon-less hands and I felt a subtle, quiet happiness inside me that bloomed into a simple smile.

The lynx jumped towards the riverbank, barely casting a slight, trembling shadow under it. Minato looked at it, at me, at it, his bright blue eyes leaping. The pseudo animal flicked its tail and circled him playfully before nudging him towards the water. He looked at me then and his expression was intent. Something different from anything else I had seen directed at me before. Maybe it was the summer air pressing down at us, or the fact that we hadn't been attacked for a while. Or the hope of Konoha or its fight or maybe it was just me and him and the river and the moment, but I was thrumming inside, an exhilarating sort of electricity. Something that picked me up and settled me closer to him.

He took his vest and shirt off before his trousers as he walked towards the water, the lynx playing around him, and when it brushed his bare skin I felt a shiver along the chakra in my fingertips. He walked slowly into the water and dipped himself in, resurfacing with his yellow hair no dimmer and though mostly made to plaster against his forehead and neck some of it still defied gravity.

"You know we can't train here. I would win hands down. This is my environment," I teased, brushing dark, matted red hair away from my face with a smirk. To prove my words truthful I forced a little whirlpool between us, pulling us a little closer.

The water rippled and I didn't even try to avoid him as he appeared behind me, his arm around my throat in a loose choke. He leaned down and breathed against my ear,

"Still too slow."

I laughed as I sat on the high riverbank.

"Who you talkin' to, Minato?" I teased as the water-clone he had been holding melted away against him. He turned around to look at me with an amused smile as I slipped once again into the water, the sun gleaming off our shoulders.

I sighed contently, grinning at Minato, my eyes crinkling as I lay to float on my back, manipulating the water so I didn't move downstream.

"I love the sky here," I said nonchalantly. I heard Minato walk closer, the water shallow enough for him to do so.

"I was under the impression that the sky looked the same everywhere," he joked and I knew he was looking up as I was.

"Well you're wrong," I laughed as I sank slowly and then rested my feet on the ground with my knees bent, splashing water under my chin. I looked at him calmly. "This blue wasn't in Whirlpool."

His eyes where bright in the summer air and my smile widened almost as a protection as butterflies burst in my stomach. The feeling was light-hearted, almost anxious but delicious. I could feel my blood rushing and my chakra was simmering, overflowing. Water starting dripping upwards in dollops and he looked around as the sun caught the figures that turned into insects and stars and birds and flowers, throwing sparks and rainbows everywhere. The day was so bright. I laughed out loud, threw my head back and enjoyed this warless moment. I didn't know where my joy was coming from; the man in the water, or the river, or the sunshine, but it was streaming in me and it was so uncomplicated I couldn't help but enjoy it. It was completely in my nature. Even though the times had been tough, and at times rock bottom seemed all I could taste in my mouth, Takeo and I had learnt how to have fun with no edge of training. Our childhood in the mud-banks and docks and wet streets had taught me a world beyond that of battle which I was more than happy to put into practice.

"Come on Minato, dare you to catch me," I teased. He didn't have his self-made kunai now which he used to charge with chakra, throw and then transport himself beside it with his body-flicker. All he had now was his abnormal speed in my territory.

I climbed out of the water and unto its surface with chakra in my feet and hands and ran over it, creating waves and dolphins to accompany my laughter as Minato tried to run to me in vain, water thick around his legs and torso, holding him back harmlessly.

"You think this can keep me away from you?" I heard him call out. The forest shook past as I danced away from him, who had already escaped my cages and was running towards me without his full speed, the same way I wasn't using my full power.

I skipped over rainbows spilled by the sunshine and water, darting quickly to the right, water beneath my feet as Minato's fingers brushed my side. I heard him grunt in surprise as a crash of water slammed in his face. I looked back to see a soaking Minato trying to shake water from his eyes, the current of the river splashing around his feet as he dripped on water.

"Hahaha! You are so pathetic!" I laughed loudly, turning around with a twirl only to come to an abrupt halt with an _'__oof__'_of surprise as I crashed into a solid body.

"Aaaaw man," I said as a strong hand grabbed my arm, twisted me around and pinned my back against a chest. I could practically hear his smirk as Minato held me, defeated.

"Gotcha," his voice teased, a breath against the top of my ear. I tried to struggle against him, and he laughed when I let go of the chakra at my feet, which sank into the water. For a second I was suspended by nothing but Minato's arms, one around my stomach, his warmth against me. I could feel him breathe and I almost stopped doing so myself as the moment stretched before he also let go of his chakra and we dipped into the water with a bubbled complaint from me and a splash.

We submerged completely, the river deeper and colder in this part of the forest. Sound went numb around us and his hand let go of my arm so that I twisted around to look at him through inches of water, yet I didn't move away. My heart was thundering a storm inside of me as his face neared mine. The river stung my eyes as they widened and it didn't matter that I was underwater because my breath was lost anyways.

His cheek was against mine, lips against my hair and he said something, bubbles against my skin. He pulled away and I tried to pull him closer but he made us surface with a gasp and I knew that whatever he had said (_not I love you, it was more than that) _couldn't be said anywhere but in the unintelligible liquid.

"Minato, Minato..." I said, stilling the water against us so we could stand. I looked at his face framed by the sky and trees, drops of water a map on his skin, eyelashes clumped together to make them seem longer.

"Sshh..." He said softly and his hand fisted in my hair pulled me near. I'd never been so gratefully speechless as his lips captured mine, lower lip in his as we were suddenly brought together, body against body, breath against breath. I didn't even attempt to believe what was happening for I couldn't think, only feel his lips and body and hands pulling me closer as I retorted in kind. We pulled away to gasp in a breath and then come together again. His hand was trying to brush into my hair but it was too wet, his tongue coming out to meet mine as I opened my mouth under his, a mingling of breath and spit and feeling. My nails pressed against his shoulder and hip and I couldn't get enough; pressing, pressing, our tongues fighting and adrenaline a spice in my blood.

I pushed him backwards until his back met the muddy bank, water lapping at our skin as we tumbled closer. I had never lived with hesitation or second thoughts.

I ran my hands over his bare chest and felt his breath hitch at the contact. His hands gripped my hips and pulled me around so that the slick mud was against my back instead of his.

"Dominating bastard," I managed out before a soft gasp slipped through my teeth when his mouth met my neck. I could tell he had liked the sound because he paused for a second before attacking again, his hand climbing towards my breast.

"Ah-"I sighed out, threading my fingers through wet yellow strands. Fuck this going fast thing really had its benefits. But we _really_ needed to get out of the water and onto something solid because if things got any more heated my chakra would not hold up.

"Wait M-minato, stop," I said and was surprised to see how quickly he did so. Wide blue eyes met mine, almost apologetic. His cheeks were flushed and though the lust was obvious in his eyes he had clearly interpreted my command as a plead to go slower.

"Oh you're such a girl," I smiled as I pushed us out of the river with water, propelling myself in the mud and dragging Minato with me. He uttered a sound of surprise as we twisted around unto the ground, his back meeting mud and his eyes my satisfied smirk.

"I'm so gonna punch you if you stop now," I convinced him, dipping down for another kiss as his hands came to grab my back-side, pulling me down.

"Mi- woah! Oh my God, someone cover Kasshokumaru's eyes!" Teishi's voice snapped us out of our enjoyable activities. I heard another gasp of surprise and twisted around to see Teishi, Kasshokumaru and Takeo rooted to the other side of the river, staring at us with wide eyes. Even the dog.

"Ok, I saw this coming, but not in such detail," Teishi said and looked away. Takeo's mouth was opening and closing and the same hot blush that had overcome my and Minato's face was covering his.

Minato sat up and I pulled away from him, sitting beside him. We were both soaked-through and muddy, our faces red and our lips swollen.

How embarrassing.

"Er...Sarutobi-sensei says he wants to see you right away, Minato. You have a mission. Er..." Teishi trailed off. Takeo was still in apparent shock.

"Yes, eh, of course. I...er yes. Ok. Uh...Kushian I...er no. Hm...I'll see you later and...er...yeah. Hm..." Minato fumbled. I looked over at him and laughed loudly, causing all of them to look at me.

"That was real smooth, Minato. I'll catch up to you later. Don't leave without telling me," I grinned reassuringly. Minato smiled.

"Yeah...ok," he said, getting up awkwardly. I was glad his now little problem was not very apparent.

"Are you sure you don't want me to...er, walk with you and..hm.." Obviously Minato's brain was in overdrive. He was such a man.

"No its, its ok Minato. Say hi to the Hokage for me yeah?" I smiled. Minato nodded dazedly and transported away.

"Well, ehem, that was awkward," I said, standing up wobbly. Takeo was still staring.

"You two! Kissing! Mud! Minato! Hands! Oh my God!" Was suddenly exploded from Takeo who had gone an extraordinary shade of red. I winced. Teishi looked extremely uncomfortable and Kasshokumaru was whining lowly. He shifted from one foot to another as Takeo tried to talk but only managed a sort of unhealthy gurgle.

"Er...We have to go do...whatever. See ya!" Teishi said and him and his dog bounded into the forest.

Great...

"Takeo...I would have told you only...this is the first time see and-"

"That was the first time! Kami! Even Sakumo-" He stopped abruptly and turned even redder. I frowned slightly.

"Sakumo? What does..." My jaw hit the floor. "SAKUMO!?" I hollered. "Sa_ku_mo!? _Sa_kumo?_** Sakumo**_?" and now my brain had stopped functioning.

We spluttered at each other and I drooled a little.

"Ok...ok, lets calm down. We both-"

"Sakumo the guy? Sakumo, Konoha's white fang? Sakumo, the one with all the fancy footwork and...and...the _penis_?!" I shouted. The colour of Takeo's face suggested it would explode at a moment's notice.

"Er...yes. That one," He mumbled. I shut my mouth at his sad expression.

"Ok...ok just making sure. That's...cool. Unexpected..." There was a moment's pause. "Sakumo the-"

"Yes! Yes, Sakumo Hatake, that hot guy with silver hair who's been our friend for the past few years. Sakumo, the one with the great big penis! Ok?" He shouted. It's not certain but I may have died of shock. For a few moments he seemed horrified with what he had said before visually pulling himself together with a deep breath.

"I...Well, you and Minato. Your first time? You were rolling in the mud! Wet!" He accused.

"You said penis..." I squeaked. Takeo slapped his forehead with his hand and sighed. I shook my head.

"Why...why didn't _you_ tell_ me_," I asked quietly, suddenly coming to the realisation of what this implied. _Takeo,_ keeping secrets?

Takeo looked at me and I must have looked obviously dejected for he stepped closer and put his hand on my shoulder. I looked away.

"It's not that I didn't tell you...well...I guess I was scared," He admitted quietly. I looked at him, hurt.

"Scared? How could telling me-"

"No," He cut me off, "it wasn't the telling _you_ that scared me. It was the...the talking about it. I was scared it wouldn't be true or...or it would seem more serious than it is or...it's hard to explain. He's such a...private guy. But when I'm with him he opens up and we...he...I..." He trailed off and I felt like I half-understood. Hatake was a strong person in every sense of the way. He took things very much at heart, though, and sometimes could be a little harsh. Trust Takeo to be a little masochist in relationships. He was too good.

"I...understand. And Minato and I-"

"Yeah. Me too. I was just...surprised," He laughed, brushing the long blue bangs of hair away from green eyes. We looked at each other and realised how much we had grown and still, how close we were.

Out of my usual, reckless impulse I got on tip-toes and kissed him softly, a press of lips. He pressed back gently after a second, a hand trailing my cheek before pulling away and embracing. The seal to a sort of ending. Two lost ships from Whirlpool that were finally docking and ready to build empires away from the motherland. From each other. Gone were the kids that shared everything from a bed and food to memories and secrets.

"You gotta promise to stick by me, though, at least until Whirlpool is re-built. Right?" I asked over his shoulder, the wetness of my skin transferring onto his though the summer heat was quickly evaporating it away.

"Do you even have to ask?" He said, pulling away. He hooked my pinky-finger with his and shook it three times before we let go.

"Lets go then," I said, peeling my eyes away from his face which had lost some of its pallor in the Konoha sun, collecting and pulling on my clothes uncomfortably.

We walked into the forest slowly, our bare arms brushing. I smirked.

"So, great big pe-"

"Kushina!" Takeo whined. I laughed loudly.

I would never let him live that down.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N

Let's start a war.

Start a nuclear war.

At the gay bay, _gay_-bar, _**gaybar**___

Woah!!

Yay, 'action'. And Takeo being melodramatic. And gaybar songs. What more could a reader possibly want!?

Is it just my cousin and me that are totally loving Takeo and his relationship with Kushina? 3

Well, in any case, this was incredibly fun to write. I was thinking of adding a chapter consisting of a humorous double-date between the two pairings, what do you guys think? Though maybe I should make it a separate one-shot thing because for the next week social life is going to take a priority since school is out on Tuesday (whooooooooooo)

Yayay Christmas. God I can't wait, I'm almost as excited for this as for the soon-to-come-out Sweeney Todd movie; if you haven't heard of it then check a trailer out on youtube or something. Incentive: Johnny Depp singing. Need I say more? My God I love Tim Burton. LOVE HIM. Slobber

Hm...anywho, tell me what you think! _Please _review:3


	5. Chapter 4

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Four_

I sat in complete silence.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. I wasn't even crying.

Takeo was dead.

The mere idea was too big to possibly explain or capture. Takeo, my Takeo, green eyes and soft smile and death-hating Takeo was dead. His laugh was gone, his voice lost, his memories eradicated. Another piece of Whirlpool broken.

I simply couldn't believe it.

Takeo had been with me for as long as I can remember. Both our parents had died when we were young and as similarities often lump people together we had ended up with a few other orphans. But Takeo and me, we had been glued at the hip. Dirty Wave village had nothing on us; we knew it inside out, all its secrets were ours, every trick useless against us. Be it food or shelter or money, we scavenged for it together. He was good at talking and I as good at distracting. We fought off everything, everything, everything except this. The idiot, the complete and utter imbecile had gotten himself _killed._

_Takeo...Takeo..._

"No..." I whispered, and in the shadow of the night I crumpled into myself. I lowered my heard to the muddy grass, my back-bone touching the middle of the three stumps in the training grounds. I wound my arms around myself in an attempt to keep myself together, but I couldn't.

_How could this..._

The wind was still around me and all was silent, forever.

"No, no, no, no..." I sobbed as a low whine escaped me. I had sworn I would restore Whirlpool as the country it should be, but how could I ever do that if I was unable to save my best friend from the war? I knew, then, what Takeo had meant when he said the war would never end. How could it end when Takeo had died for it? How could the war come to a conclusion when in my mind his figure was still pending, incomplete and distorted by this sacrilege?

Oh God, Takeo. I had known so many people to die, lived so long in the constant threat of death around everybody's corner, but the notion of it was still too impossible to comprehend. How a person can go from everything to nothing ever again. How Takeo had always been there and now I would never see him again. I tried to remember the last thing I had said to him. His last expression. Something, some kind of sign that had lead to the pit he had fallen in. But I couldn't. I couldn't remember and suddenly I felt terrified of the notion that one day I may forget his voice, the way he smelt, the way he used to hold my hand in the night even though I said I hated it. How he looked, covered in soot from the fires we made to cook our food in Wave, how he would hum when he worked, how he would blush when he was praised. How much I loved him and how much I would give to have him back.

"Takeo..." I let his name slip across my tongue and away, a taboo now. I pressed my forehead down, hard, pushing the mud away, feeling the blades of grass on my skin, my hair pressing unto my forehead, my elbows on the side of my thighs, pressing, pressing.

_Takeo...__please__...anything..._

I would end this war, and every war. It didn't matter what I had to do, who I had to kill or use. I would avenge Takeo and Whirlpool and everything lost.

Death changes people and the silence of the night I didn't really know what I had just agreed to.

O

I woke up to the sound of a voice.

"Wake up, Kushina," it was saying softly, almost timidly. I took stock of my surroundings before I opened my eyes, as was natural of a ninja. I was in the same position I had been in last night, curled up with my head in my legs. The extremely painful cramps in my legs and back suggested I had fallen unconscious because of exhaustion instead of simply falling asleep. I opened my eyes to bleary grass and misery.

_Takeo..._ was my first thought, slicing across any other before they could form.

I swallowed a groan as I sat up, the muscled in my back protesting with jolts of pain as they contracted for the first time in hours. I felt clammy with nightmare sweat and the dew of the new morning. Snot clotted my nose and I knew spending the night outside hadn't been a good idea though I couldn't have cared less.

"Minato?" I asked even though I knew perfectly well it was him. He was crouching beside me, a hand now resting on my shoulder, much warmer than anything else I could think of now, now that Takeo's memory was in cool colours and shades.

"You shouldn't sleep outside like this. You're going to get sick," I could hear him say and it sounded so foolish to me.

"I know," I whispered, voice hoarse, yet made no attempt to get up, nor did he make a move to take me.

"Kushina..." he started, and the concern was so thick in his voice it sickened me. I shook my head and he fell silent.

"How's Tsunade?" I asked painfully, for her little brother had died in the same battle as Takeo. I had never seen Tsunade the way she collapsed when she heard her brother had died. Her eyes were wide, like those of a hunted animal, as Jiraiya gave a glistening blue pendant back to her. Her expression had said everything I had felt as she crumpled to the ground, any thought of posture gone. I had seen everything cave away with her. Jiraiya had crouched down to hold her and the love in that movement, the care and experience and friendship in his embrace was something that made me want Takeo so much I had felt like dying because of the ache of it. I ran away from the scene and from the news and from everything because Whirlpool was now truly gone, and the innocence of Nawaki was dead, and that was two dreams gone in one whisper.

"With Jiraiya," he replied and with that he said everything. I nodded in understanding and continued to look down at the ground. Silence fell and I knew this couldn't go on for ever. I had to pull myself together, if only for the moment. I had to get up.

with a deep breath of cold air I looked up and all I could see was Minato's eyes. A blue you would never get in Whirlpool.

It was Minato's surprised and distraught expression which made me realise I had started crying, and once I did I couldn't stop.

"H-he promised," I found myself saying. "He p-p-promised. He promised." I couldn't stop, couldn't get up, would never forget Takeo and everything he was for me, even if his image killed me.

I was pulled forward and cocooned in warmth as Minato's arms became a world around me, my face pressed into strawy, yellow hair over a shoulder.

I gave Takeo life behind my eyelids. Saw him as a child, watching and laughing as I tried to find the treasures he had buried in a patch of mud. Takeo as he crafted his arrows, calloused hands working and green eyes intent. Takeo crying over death; of a bird, or a person, or a country. Takeo and me curled around each other, holding on to everything we had ever had. Takeo kissing me, or Hatake; laughing openly or staring seriously.

Just...Takeo.

How could his absence be so complete? How could he not be standing there every time I looked?

My God, how could he be dead?

Time passing draggingly, ticking in dry sobs and retches. I finally quieted down, however, and sat there, simply trembling against Minato, exhausted to my very core. I was finally not thinking much of anything, submerged in a bleak sort of misery.

"Come on...lets get out of here and somewhere warm," he murmured and for a second I pulled him closer instead of pushing up and away, fisting my hands in his clothes, afraid of something nonsensical. I didn't even want to think about it.

"Ok," I whispered back and we stumbled onto our feet, cramps jolting. Minato strained a smile down at me, running a hand through my hair, which had grown past my shoulder blades in a wavy mess. I tried to force one back but for once the pressure of it seemed to threaten to crack my face.

We walked back to Konoha together and as Minato pressed again me I felt a flicker of bitter hope between all the never ending misery. The war would end one day.

I would make it end.

OoO

"What's wrong, kid?" Jiraiya asked and I looked up at him in surprise. I had been solitarily sitting on top of the roof of my small, dingy apartment, looking but not seeing the landscape of curling ribbons of smoke from orange and red tiled roofs, the tops of trees decorated by the sound of birds and in the distance the Hokage mountains, their great faces staring back at me. There were three now, Sarutobi having been added not long ago after the Second died. Their faces were framed by a sky made of dimming pastel-colours, a passive sunset making the glazed tiles shine.

"Nothing," I replied, turning away from him and back to the landscape. "Just thinking."

I heard him sit down beside me and wondered if this was an intrusion or a blessing. My thoughts were troubling me but in a way I was afraid of explaining them, just in case they became more solid in sound. But it was unusual for Jiraiya to be doing this anyway. Most of the time he acted half as if he didn't care and half as if he would die any moment for you without a second's hesitation. We fell silent for a while, letting the horizon distract our glances but I was soon shocked out of my reveries by his voice.

"So when are you leaving?" He asked with the most casual voice in the world. The surprise those words caused jolted through me like electricity, causing me to stand up in a spluttering mess of anxiety and denial. I knew he didn't mean leaving for my next mission.

"How did...what are you talking about?" I stuttered loudly, blushing for some ridiculous reason. He looked at me calmly, a look he rarely adopted and I quieted down, staring back.

"Either don't talk about it or tell me the truth," he said. I scowled at him, angry that he had guessed and that he had known I needed to talk about it. Angry that he cared enough to do so and through that forcing me to confess .

"I...how did you know?" I asked quietly as I sat down once again, not looking at him. He snorted besides me.

"Brat, I'm not as simple as you think I am," he said, amused. I turned to him and opened my mouths to protest but he cut me off with a shake of his head.

"You've been restless for weeks now. Months, maybe years. Sometimes I think you've been itching to leave since the day you came here," he mused soberly. I thought about his words and slowly shook my head.

"No, you're wrong," I stated calmly. He turned to look at me and behind him his stretched shadow shifted to look at mine. "I've been happy here, maybe happier than I was in Whirlpool," I admitted painfully, "but sometimes happiness isn't really enough. This kind of happiness isn't what I'm looking for..." I thought of everybody here, all the friends and bonds I had made and my lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe. I looked across Konoha and wondered how I could even think of leaving.

But how I could I ever stay in this peace? I realised then exactly what this restlessness was. It wasn't that I didn't love Konoha because I did; _so much_, but it would never be my village. I had other things I had to protect and accomplish and I couldn't stay in the Leaf village to do so.

There was a moment of stillness and contemplation and silence before Jiraiya got up slowly. The great Sannin which had taught Minato and other two dead warriors. Who had bought me a hundred lunches, and given me thousands pieces of advice. The man who was in love with a woman lost to his affection. A man who's best friend was a traitor, who had failed to save the people he loved from the inevitable. I saw a man I had come to know and love like a father, or an uncle, or a not-so-good role model.

"What-hey, brat, come on..." He said as I threw myself at him and held him tight in a spontaneous hug. I felt an arm go around me as he gave it back lazily and could just feel the smile he had on his face.

I would miss him.

I pulled away grinning and he regarded me with a sad smirk. The markings under his eyes were thicker and longer like a wound that deepens instead of heals.

"Just don't forget to say goodbye, brat. This village wants no more surprises," he said and with that he had jumped off the roof and started walking slowly away, hands in pockets, not a care in the world. With that short conversation he had resolved my doubts on leaving Konoha. On the knowledge that I had to move on.

As Konoha dipped slowly into night and Jiraiya walked away I wanted to call out to him, to shout that he was wrong, that I would never leave.

But he had asked me not to lie.

O

I would never forget Minato's expression in the twilight of the evening as we sat in our favourite and most unused training ground. He didn't look surprised or distraught. He looked as if I had just confirmed something terrible he knew was going to happen.

No words came forth from him. What could he say, really? I looked at him and felt terrified that he would ask me to stay because if anything would hurt more than leaving it would be doing so against his will. Yet he didn't, and he didn't ask why because he already knew that this was something I needed to do. That I didn't belong to Konoha like he did. He would never leave his village, and I simply couldn't stay.

The trees around us swayed and shivered in the warm summer breeze. It had been a beautiful day and I wondered if it was going to rain when I left Konohagakure for good.

I felt his hand on my bare arm and looked up at him and knew I wouldn't be able to look away again. I shivered.

"I'm going to miss you," he said, and it was the most terrible phrase for it was the perfect, cruel understanding he always held. I felt tears in my eyes and tried to hold them back but it had always been easy to make me cry.

"Don't," I whispered, "I promise to come back."

"Alive," he added with fierce eyes and I nodded. Alive.

I smiled wetly and brushed my tears away.

"Why am I even crying? I'm going to come back. Ninja's aren't supposed to cry, right?" I asked and laughed in such a strangled way I had to stop. Our eyes were still locked on each other's.

"Right?" I whispered. He looked at me and his hand lifted and pressed its palm against my cheek. He leant down and kissed me and I wished he hadn't, or that this wasn't a sort of goodbye. But I pressed back and drew him closer anyways, wondering if all ninja romance was this painful and guessing it probably was. The warmth of his fingertips pressed against bare skin; my neck and arms and back. I felt like I was drowning and never wanted to surface again.

I slid into his lap, the tears on my cheeks wetting his. His hands slid under my shirt, seeking contact as the fervour of the kiss increased, a desperation born of the knowledge that these caresses were in count-down. We hadn't shared that many moments and kisses since that first time in the river, though we had once gone on a 'double-date' with Takeo and Sakumo. Between missions and exhaustion, however, the most vivid memories of us that survived were those of us battling together and the weary camp-fire-nights wrapped around each other, energy left for nothing more the firefly kisses lighting up the darkness, a flutter of eyelashes before a goodnight.

Our chests pressed together along with our tongues between my sobs and his whispers.

"Lets go to mine," he panted and I stared at him before nodding, drawing him in for another kiss before stumbling to our feet.

After a flash of teleportations, tree-jumping and brief spouts of pressing against alley walls and flat roofs we clattered into his apartment, keys discarded on the floor as we shed each other's coats. We were so out of breath it hurt to take air in but it didn't seem to matter as we plunged into kiss after kiss, hands roving and stealing the oxygen and though from each other.

"Ah, Minato" I panted, and he moaned in return as I got rid of his shirt and pressed my hands to his chest. My eyes burned and the skin under them felt taunt with dry tears but all that mattered as he leaned over me against a wall, every part of him that touch me making my skin _alive_ with pure feeling, was that we were there then, together, so close it hurt.

The only thing I could do was hope that when I came back he was still alive to remember this.

* * *

**A/N**

Sorry for the double update, the internet is crazy and hates us all.

Well, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Make mine and review ;)

The next two chapters will be longer and in Whirlpool. It took me FOR EVER to write them. TT

Well, I hope you enjoyed! Till next time :3


	6. Chapter 5

_**Thunderstruck **_

_Chapter Five_

The air was clotted with the stink of dead fish and pure filth. The port water was infested by oily blackness of pollution and rubbish as old, derelict boats creaked and moaned, uncared for, as they rocked with the slick waves that rippled across the liquid's surface. I looked around under the blue hood I had taken to wearing, an asset when wanting to go through a place without being remembered, at all the crumbling buildings and beggars on the streets. I walked slowly, taking in every miserable detail in the luck-forsaken place.

I could barely believe Whirlpool had changed so little.

I had spent the first six months after leaving Konoha collecting information on Whirlpool from other countries, becoming accustomed to my solitary travelling; trying not to wish for Takeo or Minato. I had once thought Minato was probably the strongest out of all of us, but I had grown a lot since I had left my village. Training beside and under prodigies like Jiraiya and Tsunade, Sakumo and Minato, had made me stronger than I could have been otherwise, and being a soldier in a war is a perpetual training course which sharpens all Shinobi. Because of that and my own strength and high amount of chakra, which was usual in Uzumakis, I had become someone capable of travelling alone and be a successful spy. Whirlpool had taught me to survive in abominable conditions whilst Konoha fighting tactics as well as efficient ways of gathering information had shaped a ninja capable of holding ones own.

I had then borrowed a small, one-person, sturdy sailing boat and made my way towards former Whirlpool, the sad, desolated island I had abandoned; forgotten by even the war that waged beyond its reach. Every day of my journey I felt a clutching anxiety inside me, not knowing what to expect. The old sights and sounds of my culture or a shell of that?

I spent that whole first day walking around, ignoring the hookers and children asking for money, which often coincided in the same person. There were a few pathetic stands selling food and black-market items. And to think that what I was seeing had been a prosperous, Shinobi-containing country.

The image of the derelict land spurred me to travel around the island quickly but efficiently on the first few weeks, gathering as much information as possible on the true state of things. I was no longer a child who could ignore the details of the truth; I saw ruin at its source, a rotting base of cheating and fragmentation, ignored by the few grand houses that devastated any balance there might have been.

On this morbid journey I located the largest of the ports, one which had the most potential to transform into its formal glory. Once my scope of the island had concluded I returned to that same large port and bought an empty shop, decorated with grime and graffiti, and an apartment floor in similar condition above it. The filthy structure was located in the South West along with the harbour that was made of long walk-ways of wood and metal leading to boat-spaces. A building containing the reception as well as an adjoining section with out-of-service showers and toilets separated the docks with the gravel streets filled with dusty and lively shops, whores in fish-nets clothing and men with black-market goods. Its infrastructure, however, was still sturdy against the lapping salt waves, and the wooden paths leading to shabby moored boats were mainly in good condition. The areas that weren't, however, could easily be fixed up with a few slabs of fresh wood and a coat of paint and varnish would metamorphosis the whole thing. I gladly took note that the port had an area for larger ships, which would save construction if needed.

It was around two months after my re-appearance in Whirlpool, spent investigating the best fishermen and tools needed for the job ahead of me, that I took my next major step in revitalising the island.

Ironically, the initiation of the rolling snowball took place in one of Whirlpool's many taverns. The air inside the large room was thick with the smell of smoke and alcohol and grime, the atmosphere saturated with the sound of music from an out-of-tune piano, almost drowned out by the shouts of voices and laughter that swarmed the place. People milled about drunkenly, dancing in staggers or carrying large pints of swirling, dark-gold liquid or clear sake to crowded tables.

Out of the early-born paranoia I had taken the extra precaution of exercising my fairly unique technique and disguise my chakra. Only because there was no longer a shinobi village did not mean there were no shinobi lurking in Whirlpool's many shadows. My conspicuous red hair was also covered in black material and as I calmly entered the tavern no one turned to look at me.

I had decided that the mouth-loose scene of a bar was a perfect place to gather more information on any undercurrent powers influencing Whirlpool's economic situation. Granted, spirit-deluded people were not the best of informants but I concluded that no harm would come from trying.

"Hey gorgeous, what can I get you?" A thin woman with a scarred face asked me as I pushed myself on the sticky bar. I smiled casually and asked for some sake which I would avoid drinking. As a general rule ninjas do not get intoxicated and if they do it is only because they are confident enough of their strength to believe that not even dimmed senses would endanger them. Either that or the ninja is self-destructive, both of which, at the moment, I was neither.

I made my way inconspicuously around the crowds, avoiding groping hands and leering eyes but learnt not much beyond the lyrics to crude songs.

I had almost given up the quest for useless, the bar having emptied considerably due to the late hour, when I reached a still-crowded table in one of the cobwebbed corners of the room. I pretended to sip at my sake as I took in the scene.

On a small two-person table sat a pair of men, dressed well and deeply concentrated in whatever they were doing. A crowd of half-sober people had collected around them, looking into what was happening, cheering or calling out as the events unfolded. I stepped closer and joined the mass, one more spectator.

Apparently the source of or entertainment was a gambling game I was unfamiliar with. Little purses heavy with what I supposed was gold sat tauntingly in each player's court, waiting to be won by the luck and skill of the cards that were either clutched in hands or strewn around the table.

One of the men participating was a large, sturdy man with shaggy brown hair and a days-old, unkempt beard littering his chin and neck. He looked extremely serious, features still and tense, jaw clenched, but his pose was ruined by a nervous flickering of his eyes I wasn't sure anyone else would notice.

The other contestant, however, was much more jovial. His eyes were intense, watchful, giving nothing away and I knew right away he was much more intelligent than he would let on. He held no particular expression in his elegant features, high cheekbones and handsome lines not quivering under the stress of the game. There was an air of amusement around him I couldn't quite explain. A slight quirk to his lips, maybe, or a shine in his eyes, partly hidden by a fringe and bangs of dark purple hair. It gave me the distinct impression that he thought the situation was all a big joke to him. He held his cards casually in hands covered in fingerless gloves, his clothes dark and loose around him; a high collar against pale skin, oversized sleeves held in buckles, thrown over him as if he could hardly be bothered to wear them.

I was intrigued at once.

That curiosity peeked more so when I spotted a suspiciously cloaked figure propped carelessly against the wall, directly behind the nervous gamer. There was no cause for curiosity at first, for there were many cloaked, questionable figures in a place like that which I found myself in, yet my eyes became repeatedly attracted to the figure, leaning so silently and still. It didn't interact with anyone or, for that matter, ask for any attention at all and yet as a ninja I was instantaneously on guard by its seemingly innocent pose.

I followed the game closely, not with entertained eyes but with analytical ones. The calls surrounding the two players soon turned against the bulkier one, Maruta, taunts for the losing man who had started to curse and sweat, losing face. His opponent, however, only managed to look more amusedly calm.

"Wrap it up, boys, come on," the lady bartender and owner repeated for the fifth time, this time backed up by a big, stocky, dumb-looking civilian, meaty arms crossed and a violent look in his bulldog face. People grumbled and started moving away from the table at last, forcing me to do the same, pretending to be drunk in order to go slowly, keeping an eye on the contestants. The brown-haired man, the loser, was standing up whilst the other shuffled the cards amusedly, draping his long limbs over the creaky chair.

"Fucking cheat! You don't deserve none of my money, kid," the losing man finally said, throwing his cards on the table with a furious look on his face. There was a roar of laughter and jeering taunts from the dissipated crowd. The boy with the purple hair smirked and reached over for the money. It was when the enraged man tried to take his money with him that I saw that my premonition had been right; the boy was deadly.

Faster than the eye could follow the retreating man's wrist was pinned to the table, causing a startled cry of pain from Maruta.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said softly, voice only being caught by my ears because of their ninja acuteness. However calmly said, though, it was laced with such warning that the other, bigger man was visibly shaken and the money-purse was taken from his slack fingers before the now once-again smiling man moved away with the crowd. I was jostled out and I looked around to note two things; Maruta was still rooted to the spot as if there had been more to the brief touch than just a warning and; the mysterious cloaked figure had gone, along with the nameless graceful player.

I stumbled outside, looking around discreetly only to find a quieting street, drunks trying to find their way either into more bottles or back home, but no cloaked or purple-haired figures.

I cursed inwardly I turned to walk home, plans already forming to track the boy down and hopefully the figure would follow. I wasn't sure why but I knew something would come out of it- this hunt had a purpose, I simply didn't know what it was yet.

O

During the following days I found out that the man I was tracking was a known face in the underworld, a professional player of the intellectual card-game they had been playing, named Rods, as well as the board games Shogi and Go. His name was Seitou and the more I heard about the boy, the more I was impressed. To be so talented in these games as well as physically strong and quick meant this was no ordinary civilian. No ordinary ninja, even.

I finally found the source of my interest almost one week later, in a bar a few miles from the previous one, this time playing Shogi. The atmosphere in the place differed greatly from the last game, however. This time the competition seemed to be the main attraction instead of the alcohol, situated in a clearer atmosphere. The walls and floors were made of a dark wood that dimmed the colour of the whole place nicely, though it was well lit. The bar was off to the right, surrounded by barely-occupied stools. Chair-less tables were pushed out of the way, clearing the space for the people-cluttered space around the game which was greatly different from a professional one; people chatted and laughed around them, even as the air rung with tension.

Except for my chakra I went undisguised, using my feminine allure and petit form to win me a spot close to the game. I felt my lips curl upwards when I spotted the dark figure settled silently behind the amused-looking contender's opponent.

I hadn't trained with Konoha's best strategists, analysers and fighters, along with the dirtiest players in Whirlpool, to not smell trouble when I found it.

I followed the game with interest, noting the boy's playing style. I was used to the game, having been forced to watch Shikaku Nara play it on several occasions against Inoichi Yamanaka, two of the friends I had made throughout the years in Konoha.

As I watched I realised why this man was so good at what he did. It wasn't that he had an efficient strategy from the beginning, for all good players must have a sketch of a plan to start out with. It was that he was able to twist and adapt that strategy as the events unfolded in order to manipulate the moves to his favour. He knew what he was protecting and I watched him risk and win for it.

"Hey little lady, don'tcha wanna drink?" I heard a rough voice say besides me and I reluctantly turned to look at the source of the question. Pressed against my side by the crowd sat a big, friendly-featured man looking down at me with large brown eyes semi-covered by blond hair so dark it was almost light brown. My senses were trained on the game as I looked at him, however, making sure I didn't lose track of any strategy.

I scowled, wrinkling my nose. I should have known better; smiled sweetly to avoid any kind of attention, but if there was anything I needed practice in it was being subtle.

"No," I said irritably, eyes narrowed in mistrust. The man's smile only widened.

"Heyhey now, not attackin', just askin'" He rumbled. I stared at him for a second before smiling half-guiltily. Sometimes I forgot not everybody was an enemy.

"No problem, big guy," I retorted with a smirk. "You know much about these guys?" I asked, looking back at the game where Seitou was leaning back again after making a move. It was such an unusual pose for a strategic game; usually the contestants were hunched around the game-board, intent on what was going on. Seitou's pose didn't suggest laziness, however, but simple disinterest.

"Jus' know this guy's one of best. The best, even," he said, also turning to look at the game, and I knew which one of the two he was talking about. "There's somin' weird 'bout the guy, though. Talked to him once and," I felt him shudder "I dunno. Jus' somin weird."

We lapsed into silence as my mind whirled in suspicion. I would not let him escape this time; I had to find out why this ninja had not left to Konoha with us.

O

"Seitou, right?"

The night was quiet and cold, a biting, damp breeze twisting around the city. The sky had cleared to let the stars blink down at dark Whirlpool, a crescent moon hanging capriciously in the west.

I was sitting languidly on a sleeping chimney, my pose as careless as his had been, red hair on display, tumbling down my back as I look at him with grey eyes. Seitou's pace halted from its leaping consistency at my voice and turned to look at me from a roof opposite mine, clearly not startled, dark eyes invisible in the night.

"Who asks?" He responded, and I could see the smile from here; wide and cunning, showing too many teeth to be friendly.

"Someone who's interested," I said tauntingly, smirk appearing. I was thrumming with the anticipation for a fight because something told me that was exactly what was going to happen.

The tall man turned fully towards me, hands in pockets in an insulting pose. _You are no threa__t_, it said.

"Interested?" He laughed, "interested in what?"

I jumped off from the chimney smoothly. "A deal." My voice was casual as I walked towards him, stopping at the edge of the flat roof. I could tell he was intrigued, curious, as I knew he would be. His black coat rippled in the air and his pose shifted slightly as I neared. My smirk widened.

"Well, for someone who's interested you seem to be dawdling a lot. And not even introducing yourself first?" He snorted and turned, a dismissive hand in the air as he walked slowly away.

"If you want to play Shogi with me, ask through the bar you were just at," he said and I laughed softly. Not only had he noticed me in the crowd, it was clear we both knew the other was a ninja; leaping on roofs was enough proof of that.

For a second I touched the metal plate of Whirlpool's insignia under my blue buckles-and-straps jacket. This man was using his skills for nothing more than personal benefit, and that was exactly what had ruined Whirlpool in the first place.

"That's not the kind of game I want to play with you," I said, and was surprised to find a seductive edge to my voice. I was a danger to myself, I decided.

Seitou stopped walking and looked at me over his shoulders. If looks could kill his smirk would have eaten me whole.

"Really?"

I let a shuriken fly towards his neck, whistling against the wind. He dodged them easily, stepping to the left only to almost get his ankle ripped off by the snapping teeth of my water-lynx.

"Well, well," Seitou said, amused as he twirled away gracefully from my attacks.

"Hope you're not too rusty," I said and launched myself at him, kunai in hand.

"So hasty." Seitou pulled out a kunai and despite the speed could tell it was a typical Whirlpool one; smaller handle, lighter.

We danced around each other to the music of breathing and the clash of metal against metal. The cold burned in my lungs as I tried to knock the feet under him only for him to jump upwards, trying get his kunai near my throat; a clash as I parried it with mine and he dodged a punch, ducked another kick, another punch as I slammed my knee on his shoulder- a grunt and a curse from me as he nipped my cheek with the kunai, a curse from him as I did the same. We leaped away from each other.

He wiped the blood from the cut on his cheek as I let mine dry out.

"I really hate it when people aim for the face," he said looking at the blood on his hand with a kind-of-grimace before wiping it on his sleeve. I rolled my eyes.

"I really hate people's vanity," I retorted, positioning myself for an attack. He watched me calmly.

"Urgh, this is bothersome. What point do you want to make with this fight, girly?" I raised my eyebrows at his question.

"Since when does Whirlpool have to have a reason to fight itself?" I asked. He laughed at my comment, nodding slightly.

"How morbid you are. Are you simply fighting me for the sake of the battle, then?" His eyes flashed in menace and inside his smile there were sharp teeth. I shook my head.

"No, no. I'm judging your skills, not that you've shown any," I said, and went on as I saw his jaw clench. "Come on, I'm sure you're not even trying. Why don't you introduce me to your friend and we get serious, hm?" I said, and it felt so good to see the flicker of surprise and amusement on his face. A second later there was another form next to him; the mysterious one always hidden by the shadow of a hood. That same cape was now draped over the figure, flowing darkly.

"Why don't we formally introduce ourselves then? My name is Seitou, and this is my sister, Sasoku." No surnames, I noted.

Under the weak moonlight Sasoku pulled her cape off to reveal the most striking woman I had ever seen. She looked a lot like her brother and yet had a fineness that he lacked, maybe due to the fact that her feminine features suit her female body, dressed in a short black and blue dress that clutched her curves with belts and buckles. Arm-protectors of a similar kind gripped from wrist to elbow. Her hair was purple, like Seitou's, a mass of straight hair reaching the small of her back and of a darker shade, just like her eyes.

Side by side they looked quite formidable, twin smirks, and I hoped I hadn't gotten into something I couldn't handle.

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina," I said loudly, as if it were a threat, a dare, "and I'm the person who's going to save Whirlpool!" Two pairs of eyebrows shot up, two amused expressions. It seemed everything came in pairs with them.

The rippling smack of cards being shuffled was suddenly heard as Sasoku did so quickly. Where she had hidden the packet is a mystery yet unresolved. I stared at her, wondering if her attacks would revolve around cards. That would be decidedly interesting, I thought.

As quick as the cards has appeared one was flicked away from the woman, caught quickly by Seitou and looked upon with a smirk which was broken as he laughed, a loud, almost cruel sound that ringed around us. I frowned at the clear, pleasant sound.

"The fool of swords! Ha,ha,ha. This is going to be fun," he said, and his sister also smiled in the same attractive, mocking expression. My scowl deepened.

"Oi! Who are you calling a fool!? I'll teach you..." I growled, adapting an offensive stance once more yet fully aware we couldn't start a fight in the middle of the city. We would have to go into the forest, or the cliffs.

"Don't get too hot headed! It was almost a compliment," Sasoku said in a curiously deep yet feminine voice. I scrunched up my nose, tired of talking.

"If you're not cowards, stop procrastinating and let's go fight," I ordered.

"Go?" Seitou asked.

"Where do you expect us to go?" Sasoku ended. I lifted my chin.

"You don't expect me to fight here and destroy half the village, do you?" I said harshly. The twins looked at each other.

"Destroy half the village? O-ho-ho, what do you think awaits us, sister?" Seitou asked tilting his head to the side. Sasoku imitated the movement.

"Hope it's something good, I've been awful bored," she replied. I grinned.

"Then by all means, let me...entertain you. But for the favour I ask one in return. If I win this fight, two against one, you will help me with what I need. You'll join me in my fight."

I looked at them seriously, asking them, stranger to stranger, to give me their lives. They looked at each other intensely and then towards me with bright eyes. They nodded and smiled darkly and in a flicker we were running up-wind towards the smell of the sea.

We reached the slippery clearing thrumming with anticipation. I could feel the impending fight in my blood, electricity in my senses. The waves roared against the cliff-side we were fighting nearby, to add to the drama. I watched my opponents position themselves and felt, for a moment, oddly lonely. Ninja don't fight alone; they are pack-animals. For a second, only a second, a sharp burning stabbed me, my throat closed, and I thought about how Takeo should have been there, building Whirlpool with me, breathing it back to life as one. But instead of pushing the desperate feeling away I gripped it and turned it into something else. The memory of Takeo would not be forever coated in sadness; his memory would relive in this country. I would make sure of it.

"Let's do this," I growled and didn't waste a moment. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" I shouted, creating five water clones which splashed into life. I was too used to being outnumbered. Meanwhile Sasoku had bitten her thumb and was leaving a trail of blood on one of the cards.

"We'll make you regret trying to recruit us. The Odokemono clan's power has not been lost. We are its bearers," she said and one of my clones snorted whilst another said 'whatever!' I looked on silently, thinking quickly. If blood was used, the attack was probably going to be a summon. Judging by her words, however, it was no usual summon and it had something to do with the cards she was entertaining. I looked at Seitou and saw that he was starting to make hand seals quickly, obviously joining his sister in ritual.

I didn't have to say a word. My clones dispatched at once with one intention; interrupt whatever attack they had planned.

"Suiton Suijinheki!" They all said at once and blasts of water protruded from their mouths, exploding on the spot which Seitou had been a second before.

"Tsk," he protested as he flipped away from the shoots of water my clones were distracting him with, kicking and dodging away from their hits, dispelling two of them easily. My own smile widened, however, as I formed the seals for my favourite attack.

"Lets go, girls!" I grinned and two of my clones jumped back towards me as the wind pulled at our clothes and hair, the darkness glinting with water and stars. In the distance, a wave crashed on the cliff-side like thunder. The last clone shot Seitou and then Sasoku with a blast of water, not strong nor quick enough to even graze them but it distracted them long enough to go through the seals of my jutsu alongside my clones and above us a swirling began, as if it were space itself that was shifting even though it was just air conjuring water into mass and shape and menace.

"Getting serious are we?" they said at the same time, their posture so casual and graceful, long limbs posed casually, that it irritated me. What did a girl have to do to get these two to freak out of their calm appearance?

The wind stopped trembling and starting pulling again as a dragon of water rippled into existence.

"Oh, very impressive. Beautiful, even. But..."

"Beauty is meant to be temporary," Sasoku finished as Seitou pulled out a new pack of cards, these ones glinting in the moonlight and I knew they were deadly in an entirely different way. I pulled one of the clones in front of me as three cards shot our way, their sides razor sharp, coated in some kind of metal. I leaped up and away as the Bunshin was destroyed in a splash of liquid that splattered against my shoes. My heart was racing with the excitement of a good fight as the cards whistled past again, pulled by almost invisible strings. I slid to a stop a few feet away, avoiding another set of cards from Seitou and I catching sight of the dragon rushing down towards them.

"Come on come on..." I murmured hopefully as the creature opened a swirling mouth of wind-sharp teeth. It snapped and crashed boomingly unto the rock surface of the ground and as the twins leaped away it twisted with frightening speed towards them.

"That's enough of that!" Seitou said and for a second they both stood back to back, half a card-pack in hand, strings tied to fingers, wind pulling at their purple hair and black coats. But suddenly they were moving, dancing, fighting; twisting their fingers and limbs in a pattern which, in a single second, had sliced through my dragon, exploding it violently so that its water soaked the whole clearing, plastering my clothes and hair to my skin. Some of the water, however, didn't even make it to the ground as I wasted no time in attacking, conjuring up water clones from the liquid racing through the air which attacked the twins who were now breathing rather irregularly. Sasoku leaped up and Seitou dodged down but they weren't quick enough, earning themselves a sliced leg and arm respectively. A doubled hiss of pain and a collective splashing of water as the two clones were dispelled was heard.

They flipped away and we stood looking at each other, my grin versus their angry eyes.

"I think it's time we stopped playing around, sister," Seitou said and to my great surprise Sasoku smiled a slow, seductive smile before turning to her brother slowly and capturing his lips with her own in what was anything but a chaste kiss.

"Woah there!" I stuttered, eyes wide, not even taking the opportunity to attack as they joined hands with each other and made quick, practice hand seals with one pair of hands as the other one held a blood drenched card.

A second later, the earth was trembling.

"Oh-oh," I said and leaped farther away, creating a lynx and an eagle of water as I flipped to a stop. I watched with excited trepidation as two forms climbed out slowly from the stone. The wind was howling around us, sharpening the wetness on our skin into cold as the sea roared behind me. Rocks crumbled and rolled away as I watched, horrified as a female figure crawled out of the dirt sluggishly, as if it were a corpse come back to life whilst another, male figure was quicker, carrying a long, glinting spear. He was much more alert and alive, yet both their eyes were hollow as they parted black hair to watch me. Dirty faces and slit fingernails greeted my gasp. A shiver ran down my spine, an animalistic instinct to flee.

This was _wrong._

"Shit. What the fuck is this?" I demanded and saw that Sasoku and Seitou had disengaged and were also watching their creations. Their smiles were all of a hunter's expression.

"Meet Izanagi,"

"And Izanami," they said. I choked on air as I heard the names. What kind of game was this?

"Izanagi and Izanami? Creators of the islands? You have to be kidding. You're telling me you brought a myth to life?" I questioned incredulously as I looked at the summoned beings. Twins of opposite sex, just like their masters. Just liked the stories said.

"That's exactly what we are telling you, Uzumaki," Sasoku replied.

"Killed by your creators. What delicious irony," her twin said and then, suddenly, Izanami started _screaming_, her voice piercing my skull so that I was doubled over, my back and face drenched by the exploding of my water animals.

"Sh-shit!" I ground out, clenching my jaw so hard I could hear my teeth grind. The sound took over the pulsing of my heart, devouring all my thoughts.

A flicker of movement was all the warning I received before Seitou and Sasoku's cards were slicing the air towards me. I leaped back, falling unto one knee, rolling, jumping up with a flip in the air as the noise continued to carve its way into my mind, a sound of pure agony, sorrow, betrayal. The Brother was simply standing there, watching his sister and lover writhe in the agony he had left her in. I had to stop this before I was sliced into pieces.

"Suirou no Jutsu!" I shouted and the screaming suddenly stopped as the woman was engulfed in a prison of water. In the same instant the second summon turned its head to look at me with his dead eyes, lifting his spear as if in a trance. Seitou and Sasoku had retreated their metal cards, simply watching the show. I panted, ignoring the stinging cuts on my arms and legs as I brushed the hair from my face.

Sure, I was used to being outnumbered, but this was ridiculous. How was someone, even as totally amazing as I was, supposed to fight against supposed Gods?

I would have to use that factor against them, somehow. I couldn't act as if I were fifteen and throw myself in, fight until I won out of stubbornness or be killed. I had to figure this out, somehow. But first...

"You pair of fuckers, why didn't that scream affect you!" I shouted at them, baring my teeth angrily. Once I got past the two freaks in rags I would teach them who they were messing with.

"Uzumaki Kushina never gives up!" I raged and my lynx and eagle of water appeared once again. I knew the water prison wouldn't hold for long, even if the goddess had shown no power beyond screaming. I looked at her and saw that she was still doing so, a bubble-less, noiseless expression of horror and pain behind a distortion of water.

"Let's get serious!" I ordered, and didn't have to repeat myself as Izanagi appeared before me, the quickest thing I had ever seen, bar Minato. I bent backwards as he attacked with the spear in a scythe like manner. I kicked my leg up, aiming for the weapon-bearing hand but missed completely as we both leaped away, but my opponent kept attacking, attacking, attacking with those dead eyes always set on me. I wasn't as fast but I was stronger and when I finally landed a punch I felt and heard the crunching and cracking of bones as the wind whistled past as. He stumbled away and I quickly created two water lynxes alongside two eagles, but my planned attack was interrupted as suddenly Sasoku pulled Izanami out of the prison. Seitou, meanwhile, was running around us at incredible speed, a flashing human barrier containing the fight.

What the hell was going on?

The godess had stopped screaming, but as she lifted herself upright I knew that I was in trouble.

_Think fast_, I ordered myself. What had killed her in the myth?

What was it that could defeat the creators of life?

And then, unhelpfully, I remembered. Childbirth had killed her, the birth of the fire child. But it had been her lover's betrayal which was the reason for staying in the underworld.

It was him that had failed her, and had stayed alive for it whilst she rotted underground.

"Great, that was tons of help, I know exactly what to do now..." I grumbled.

"Better than our usual fights, Uzumaki, but not good enough," Sasoku boasted, red lips stretched into a smile.

"Fuck off," I replied crudely, scowling, "this isn't over." I brushed my red hair out of my face, chipped nails scratching against my face in anger.

Fuck if Whirlpool was ever going to defeat me.

In an instant my animals had melted into the floor only too appear beside Sasoku and Izanami, who had her palms up and was muttering something. At the same time both Seitou stopped running and begun handing a pack of cards rapidly, and Izanagi attacked me once again, stomach caved in and right arm useless.

Fighting with immortals sucked. I obviously had to take out the puppeteers to defeat these mythical replicas.

I avoided Izanagi's spear once again which had not even slowed down by the switch of hands. My animal's, meanwhile, were trying to rip Izanami apart but it seemed to be impossible to reach her, as if she had put up a barrier of some sort. Sasoku had dispelled her enemies though not without injury; one of the eagles had raked talons from shoulder to opposite collarbone, almost decapitating her, as well as from elbow to thumb. I had also equipped the lynxes with fur which spiked up like a blowfish and the twin seemed to be limping on her left leg because of this surprise attack. She now leaned beside her brother who was still concentrating on something, just like the goddess.

I was being distracted for something bigger.

There was no point playing any longer.

Quickly and silently, I tried forming a replacement jutsu, only to realise that either what Seitou had done, or what Izanami was doing, was preventing me from leaving the circle. I tried to ignore my wounds , especially the one that stretched on my thigh as I twirled away from my ceaseless attacker. Izanagi's spearhead was already drenched and dripping in the darkness with my blood.

"You...betrayed me. You, you, you," Izanami was saying, a mantra like a religious spiel, forsaking, blaming, pleading, begging.

And then the world exploded into light.

"Argh!" I screamed as hundreds of little threads were electrocuted to form a thrumming obstacle course. I was going to be fried and sliced to death all at once.

"Suiton Koushin no Jutsu!" I shouted, doing seals in quick succession as I leaped into the air. I aimed to get as far away from the floor as possible, my red hair slashing against my eyes and blinding me for a second as a roar of whistling air was heard from underneath, followed by shouts of surprise.

"The point of my dragon wasn't to eat you! It has to be destroyed!" I laughed as in one second all the water on the ground was propelled and captivated by wind as it sliced upwards in a slick glimmering wall of moving darkness. Their Jutsu was destroyed as the wind neutralized the electricity, the water blowing the strong strings away as the liquid exploded upwards. Izanagi and Izanami were caught in the middle of the raging mess and were sliced up and left scattered on the ground as my true enemies were knocked back. For a moment, nightly silence fell thick; a sound of waves and stirred air before the water crashed back to the ground in a sudden torrent of rain. Seitou and Sasoku had been blow back and with quick, painful jumps I was close to them, though still far enough to prevent being caught by one of their damn cards. Both of them groaned and could see the blood trickle from the numerous cuts I had inflicted. Yet still they struggled up, supported by each other, eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness. I looked at them seriously.

Time to finish this.

"I'm not done yet, guys. Kanashibari no Jutsu!" I shouted, using a paralysing ninjustsu on them, making sure they couldn't even take a look at their cards. The night darkness hid the form of the twins as they stood stock still from where they had gotten up. I grinned wide.

"Suiton Daibakufu no jutsu!" I said before they could dispel the jutsu.

From behind them a roaring pillar of salty sea collected, swirling like the dangers of dancing kunais. Their eyes widened as the water flew towards them, splashing me in the process and causing my hair and clothes to flutter wildly. With terrifying strength the pillar exploded upon them, the crash echoing in my ears as slabs of broken rock flew everywhere so that I had to shield my face with my battered arms. I didn't even bother putting half the chakra I could have in the attack, not wanting to kill them.

The twins were blasted back as the devastating jutsu hit them, sliding against the slick rock face until they lay still and broken on the ground.

The word stilled.

I fell to the ground, exhausted both physically and in chakra, pain trembling in my nerves. But...

I had won.

Two more soldiers for the kill.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

**A/N**

There we go, part one of what I call 'the whirlpool scenes'. That fight killed me. In the manga the fights are so well-thoughts out and interesting that it can hardly compare but still, tell me how you found it and what I can improve!

Well I hope you have a happy new year. New chances, everyone!

Please review and thanks to anyone who does :)

**Disclaimer:** The Wonderful world of Naruto aint mine, but this particular story line and all original characters are so, paws off!

Also, a thousand thanks to Deadly Crimson who is my beta as well as my motivator:3


	7. Chapter 6

_Thunderstruck _

_Chapter Six_

"A company? That's what you fought us for? To lead a company?" a smirk, almost seductive, could be heard in the words as Seitou spread over the coach, legs open, all limbs and long coat. Sasoku was looking at me through lowered eyelashes, quiet and calculating, crossed leg on a chair. They were opposites (_the whore and the virgin_) and yet made of the same material; two faces of the same person.

We were settled in my apartment, small but big enough. It could have been called cosy if it wasn't always so cold, due to lack of money available for heating.

The pair in front of me had healed fairly quickly, as if by practice. Like the rest of Whirlpool; you recuperate rapidly or die.

I had explained my plan to them between big grins at the memory of their defeat and anticipation of help. The fact was that to create a leading business I didn't need ninjas; there were many successful civilian companies, especially outside hidden villages. Nevertheless, I was recruiting Seitou and Sasoku because I needed someone who understood the financial workings and implications this meant; people who could work beside me, who was to undergo ninja missions in order to build up capital of the business.

Most of all, I needed someone I could trust. Maybe the two shady characters didn't seem like the ideal candidates, but I had sensed that ninjas with that much pride would not let me down when push came to shove.

"Yes. Do you have a better idea? A proposition of the mass murder of our opposition? They've left, this place is useless now that it's powerless. What, you want to create a ninja breeding ground and call the trouble back?" I growled with raised eyebrows.

"That last proposition doesn't sound too bad, actually," Seitou said, grinning a smile that bit. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"You in or out?" I asked impatiently, staring at both of them alternatively.

"We promised, didn't we? A ninja doesn't break their word," Sasoku's rich voice said calmly, hard in a non-bitter kind of way. I turned to her and smiled widely.

"Alright!" I danced happily. One step further in the task of revival.

"This is the girl that defeated us?" I heard Seitou drawl. I only laughed and imagined it was sunny outside.

Victory, here we came.

OoO

"Your future for a coin. Destiny for gold, we sell truth, truth for sale."

The call caught my attention at once. I was in the market, surrounded by haggard looking people between shouts of stall-owners, chimes of trinkets that reflected dancing glimmers against the wet dust. All around me the chattering of people and birds filled the air and yet, slicing through all the movement and music, came forth the voice of a small girl promising the impossible.

It had been months since meeting the terrible duo and we had successfully signed up a group of fishermen and their middle-man to our war. We were immersing ourselves in the egg-shell world of connections, treading on the silk and slime of hierarchy as we wound ourselves through potential investors and possible customers.

Now all we needed to do was actually set it all up; puppet strings strung tight for the opening.

I found myself in the market to investigate it finally, not having had a great amount of spare time to spend on such a task prior to that occasion and so it was the first time I had seen the truth-vendor occupying the corner with no purple thread or sloppy-star-painted stall. All the girl occupied was half a box whereupon she sat, leaning against the back of a taller, broader figure I could tell was male. People seemed to be avoiding them unconsciously so that there was half a moon of space around them, islanding them.

"A taste of fate, a song of b-"

"Sure," I interrupted, looking down at the girl who looked to be around 12 years of age. Her feet were resting placidly on the rain-soaked stone, water collecting at the edges of her slippers as pale skin blended well with the cloudy day. Her hair was cropped short and dark so that it stood out in mist, a blot between the drops so that they collected in between the tresses like on spider webs.

The thing that caught my attention at once, however, was that she was blind. There were no obvious warning signs; no eyes lost in milk, glazed or empty or dead. There was no distinctive stick in her hand or cloth hiding her face as if the word had no right to see what she couldn't. But there were small signs that a ninja should be able to detect; the tense nobility of her pose and the caution in her fingertips. The way her pupils didn't dilate or flicker, gaze following nobody. Her head was tilted sideways slightly, one ear generous to the crowd.

She lifted her chin towards me, a smile so gentle on her face it automatically reminded me of Takeo. I had to take a step back, if only to breathe for a second, a second, a second of peace from the open wound under the skin.

"A slice of silver for the secret on you palm-lines," said the same musical voice and for a moment I wondered if it was that sound which had enchanted me to go over.

"Why not! Yeah, go for it," I replied enthusiastically, sitting beside her on the half-wet, large wooden box. I shot a glance at the man who was sitting beside the girl, knees touching the wall and features flattered by shadows so that all I could make out was the lines of a strong jaw and straight nose.

I fumbled with my frog shaped purse, given to me by Minato, and took out a silver coin with which I could have been buying groceries with, setting it down in her outstretched hand. She passed it on to the male half of the operation. There was a moment of silence in which it was understood that cheating them was not a good idea before the girl outstretched her unscarred hand again.

"Left, please."

I did as she asked, curious about the outcome of my spontaneous decision. I had always been attracted to people, however. Not that loneliness was something prevailing in my memories _(my heart thumps and spills a name). _

Her hands were so soft I knew straight away that palm-reading was the only manual work she did. I deduced that the man who literally backed her up must have taken good care of her for there were no nicks or bruises on them; no accidents of spilled substances or falls.

"You are a ninja," she said softly. The noises of the market was but mere white noise to her soundtrack. I smiled widely, not caring in the least that it was a wasted expression.

"That's right, best one you'll find!" I exclaimed. She smiled but did not pause, head bent down as if all her senses were trained on my callused skin; ugly and worn. I watched her concentrated face; intense eyebrows, set mouth, and saw beauty. For me there was nothing like that kind of passionate determination. No similes in fire; more like a rumbling storm.

"You are...roots. Not only of the people you meet, but of land. You are a creature of the wind...wild and...in pain. A wounded animal, fighting." Her voice was honey, vinegar; intoxicating and bitter. Intimate. Suddenly the man was an intruder upon the exchange. A shiver dripped down my spine, raising the hairs on the back of my neck and arms. I thought of pulling away, for it felt like a stranger's hands was reaching for my naked form. But I couldn't.

"You have lost...and will keep on losing until yours is the man you will love like no other, and his bravery, unlike yours, you will be willing to die for...You will play part in resurrection of life and disaster. You will betray for the rest of your life and only when you realise what you have lost will you stop.

You...will hate the person closest to you more than anybody else."

With a shudder she stilled and pulled away slowly. Sweat coated her forehead and I gaped at her.

"Well...that was rather depressing," I said shakily through the clenched gut and closed throat. A laugh trembled from the girl's mouth as she leaned back against the man, reaching a sleeve to wipe the perspiration from her face.

"That was strong...you will play a part in some prophecy stronger than this," she commented tiredly but with the same edge she held before. I stared at her.

"Wh-"

"You don't know...talking frogs do you?" voice no more than a sigh now, her eyes closed. My first thought went to Minato, and then Jiraiya.

"Yeah, kind of. Why?"

"...Interesting..." She mumbled before her head tilted backwards and she promptly went to sleep. For a few seconds I stared. Then I stared some more. Finally, I blinked.

"What! Hey, hey wake up, that's not fair. What's interesting? Oi, o-uch! Hey!" I turned a glare at the man who had pushed me off the box and gathered the girl on his big arms. He towered above me, frown lines apparent in the serious face, lined with rubble and topped with wild black hair. His eyes were dark, piercing and handsome.

"She's done for today. Thanks for the business," he finalised with a deep, motor-mouth voice and started walking away. I jumped up, waving by hands at the back losing itself in the crowd.

"Hey! Hey you- oh shit."

Great. I'm a wounded loser who will betray everybody until I die, bringing about the resurrection of chaos.

What else does a girl want to hear on her 17th Birthday?

Sheesh.

O

"Have you come for another palm reading? I'm sorry to say it won't be any different if we do it again," the girl said. It was a few days after the first time I had seen them and after talking to Seitou and Sasoku we had decided (or I had convinced them that) it would be a good idea to ask the two strangers in the corner to work for us. They could take care of the staff; of recruiting, disposing and handling. I was sure they had connections within the tides of market-life and if we ever needed to expand, encountered problems or needed more people they would be a useful asset to have and somehow I could tell that girl could sense the true nature of people.

Again, however, it seemed to even me that I was building the company in the strangest way. Accountants and protectors which didn't seem trust-worthy, a blind girl to interact with people, the poorest of the villagers to catch fish.

But inside my head my market plan was clear. All my decisions were backed up by logical reasoning.

"How'd you know it was me?" I questioned curiously, smiling and sitting beside her. The man didn't even flinch but I could see his shoulders were tense.

"Smell," she said simply.

In all the other scents milling about? _Impressive, _I thought.

"That's pretty damn cool!" I laughed. The girl smiled and blushed slightly. Shyly.

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina," I said. "What's yours?" There was a pause as they both stilled. Slowly the man turned to me and watched me with his dark eyes. The girl cleared her throat and talked slowly.

"My name is Hitoshirenu Hireki and this is Ishi-kun." Silence elapsed and I smiled at both of them, ignoring the stony expression of Ishi.

"It's very nice to meet you both!" I beamed. I opened my mouth to explain my intentions but was cut off by Ishi before I could start, his voice cold and guarded.

"What do you want with her?"

I stared at him, frowning slightly at the open hostility.

"Well, if you would let me start I would tell you!" I huffed. His eyes narrowed, mine rolled.

"How about we go somewhere more private?" I suggested, looking around the once again crowded market.

"No. Here is fine. People won't be listening to us," Ishi growled dangerously. I glared back at the obvious insinuation that I was not trustworthy but was halted from saying anything as Hireki reached out and squeezed his hand and it was amazing how though he kept his defensive position he seemed to relax and back down at once.

"Ok, whatever you want," I conceded. "Look, as you said, I'm a Whirlpool ninja." I tapped my protector which was hidden under the blue sleeve of my flowing, large sleeves in order not to attract attention. "I've been away from Whirlpool for the last couple of years though, because of the last Rock treaty. But I'm back now, and something in this place just has to change. So, I've decided to set a business here. Hopefully that'll bring money in and start the ball going. I have other plans but...that's the one in action now. Building a seafood-selling company will hopefully help the financial situation here, especially if we start exporting."

"What has that got to do with us?" Ishi asked as I explained. I wrinkled my nose at him and for a moment his lips quirked.

"I was getting there! Well, I want you to help me. I want you to be the middle-men; to handle the employees, to make sure they are all trust-worthy. You obviously have your own little business set up here so I'm sure you have some experience with accounting, so some help with that would be appreciated...But yeah. I'm asking you to join me, to help revive Whirlpool."

There was silence in the middle of all the noise.

"...You really have been away from here a long time. We don't call this Whirlpool anymore. After the ninjas left, it became Wave country."

I stared at them painfully after Hireki's words. Did that mean that it was no longer worth saving? Did the fact that this Country had lost itself completely mean that my mission was like breathing air into a corpse?

Or was it that they didn't want my help. I was part of the force that had left Whirlpool without a fight _(for their own good, a voice whispers desperately)_, because Hireki might have been blind; unable to see the filth on the streets, the clotted sea ports and dead vegetation, but just because she couldn't see the rags on her skin didn't mean she couldn't feel them.

And maybe that was worse.

"Old Whirlpool then. Wave. I'm saving my _home_, whatever its name."

I stood up, looking at them defiantly. Hireki's features were tense, jaw clenched whilst Ishi had stilled completely.

"I'll let you think about it then. I'll come back in a few days but won't ask you again."

I turned and started walking into the crowd, letting myself be swallowed by its distant presence, its overlapped noise, when a voice halted me for the second time.

"We'll do it."

Relief unclasped within me. I turned around, grinning as widely as I could, eye arched closed for it felt like the people I had abandoned, the civilians I had felt betrayed, had finally, finally started to forgive me.

OoO

The business was having...issues. _Personal _issues.

"I told you to stay away from her."

"Ishi-kun..."

"I hear no complaints for the beautiful lady, my friend. It's very rude to speak for others. And anyway, you have already suggested you have no romantic interest in Hireki-chan. Am I wrong?"

A growl sounded and if I didn't know better I would have guessed it came from a canine.

"You are not getting near her with your perverted hands, Seitou. And if you do, if you so much as lay a paw on her I will make sure to gut you myself."

"Perverted hands? Paws? Moi? Since I own no such things, I agree to you conditions, mon ami."

"Why you-" There was the sounds of crashing and growling, Hireki's distressed shouts, stern words followed by quiet laced with heavy breathing and I would have bet anything that if Seitou's smirk had a sound it would have been ringing across the room.

Ever since the two parties had met sparks of animosity had flown between Ishi and Seitou. It was almost magnetic how they had looked at each other and there had been a _reaction_, like two new chemicals fizzing against each other. The result, however, had been anything but good as the leer on Seitou's face had drawn nothing but mistrust from Ishi who had visibly grown protective as soon as the more flamboyant male greeted Hireki in a rather charming way. Between Seitou's obvious flirting and Ishi's instinctive protectiveness the weeks had passed being interrupted by explosions of anger which could be clearly trailed by Seitou's constant baiting.

I walked into the danger zone with a role of my eyes which met, as expected, the typical scene of Seitou languidly draping over some piece of furniture whilst Ishi tried to fry him with his eyes.

"Ok guys, how about we break it up?" I sighed, dropping into one of the couches in the living room tiredly. Hireki's face was tense and stern as she tilted her head to my voice.

"Ishi-kun, Seitou-kun, I'm sure you both have work to do," she said with a voice that bellied her young face. The girl had gut and order under the girlish features. Ishi grunted in response, squeezing her shoulder so that his knuckles flexed and his face turned down, shutting Seitou out completely, unconsciously. I turned to look at the ignored man and saw with interest how he watched them intensely, not in anger but almost as if exasperated. I turned away, however, always having been quite tactless when it came to emotion.

"You're right, Hireki. Don't tire yourself out and I'll be back for dinner," Ishi said calmly. Hireki's face calmed as she smiled.

"_We'll _be back for dinner," Seitou interrupted. "I'm working with you today, Ishi-_kun_," he smiled provocatively. Ishi turned to him at once, jaw clenched. It was amusing to see how his normally subdued and cautious ways were broken completely by the twin, becoming a snappy creature made of short fuses.

"Joy," Ishi dripped in sarcasm and both men turned and walked out of the room, lightning left crackling in the air.

"Told you they were due today," I smirked, turning to Sasoku who had been sitting in the corner all the while, unnoticed as if she were nothing more than Seitou's shadow.

She turned her head away from the papers she had been reviewing and raised an elegant eyebrow, mouth smiling slowly.

"I've never seen Seitou be so pathetic before," she said casually, brushing a strand of hair from her face gently. Hireki and I sat on the couch so that we were facing her.

"Pathetic? In my opinion it is Ishi-kun who is being unreasonable. Its obvious Seitou-kun has no intentions towards me. He's reacting just like your brother wants him to react," Hireki sighed, leaning back. I looked at the two women in confusion.

"What are you talking about? Seitou is always flirting with you," I exclaimed. Sasoku looked at me in a way that said that she was clearly not impressed with my deduction but that she didn't expect anything better from me.

"What?!" I said defensively. Sasoku smirked and then laughed softly and I was almost taken aback. It wasn't like she was serious or morbid most of the time, but she was reserved in a peculiar way and didn't laugh so honestly often. As if she were putting some part of her on display to hide the rest.

She stood up in that perpetual grace of hers and catwalked towards the couch to sit between Hireki and me.

"I have to admit to have very similar tastes to my brother. Innocence and ignorance is just something we cannot resist. For lack of it, I presume," she said softly and I started to feel distinctively uncomfortable. She was incredibly close to me, thighs and shoulders pressed so that I could make out the contours of her aristocratic face, the details of her eyelashes as they brushed her cheeks when she blinked.

"Are you insulting me?" I frowned. Her smile widened so that a glint of teeth was shown, almost like a warning.

"Hmm...I'm not even sure." Why was her voice so low and soft, so that her breath was felt on my skin?

"Guys, I'm blind, not senseless. Shouldn't you get a room or something?"

All the blood rushed to my face.

Oh my God! She was hitting on me!

"Woah! Woahwoahwoah there!" I shouted, leaning back so that I was almost toppling off the arm of the couch. "What are you _doing_!?" I screeched. Sasoku laughed again and even Hireki giggled.

"Me? Why, nothing." Her voice was smirking; highly suspicious. From the other side of her, Hireki sighed.

"Ok, ok Sasoku-chan, leave Kushina-chan alone. I think you've scared her enough," she said. I spluttered. Sasoku leaned back, all the while with that infuriating smile on her face.

"I just hope Ishi and Seitou sort this out soon. It's driving me crazy. Can't you talk to your brother?"

"Can't you talk to your keeper?"

I ignored them as they continued talking.

Seriously, sometimes I just had no idea what was going on.

OoO

"I don't think we have enough capital for that. We're trying to please everybody-"

"That's all you, Kushina. If you wouldn't cry every time someone threatens to strike then-"

"Oi! Shut up, I don't cry. I just don't like it when I know we're not paying them enough to feed their families...Anyway! The case is that we should talk to the team to decide how to resolve this problem with the Land of Water...selfish bastards. If they didn't all want the resources for themselves this would be so much easier...Fuck."

Sasoku and I had once again been to the main market place to check things and figure out minor problems that had arisen between the workers. The smells, sounds and sights were once again alive with an audience of the middle of the week. For once in a long while the sky was half clear, a washed-out blue peeking through a misty horizon. Kites were flying in the distance, blots of sharp colour chasing each other. Beside us, as we exited the main throng of the stands, a man smiled toothlessly at us, holding out rich-smelling dango which I eyed hungrily. At my expression the vendor's face wrinkled further in an encouraging expression. After a pleading look from my part and a roll of purple eyes from Sasoku we bought some food and moved forward, her black coat just missing skimming the dirty stone walkways, buckles and zips clinking as she surveyed our surroundings. I munched at my food, humming happily and my walking partner threw me a glance which I returned with a grin. Her eyes lingered on me as we crossed the street almost carelessly, approaching our grown apartment as her lips quirked up, eyes adapting a curious expression I couldn't fathom.

"What?" I asked obliviously. Her smile widened in an almost predatory way.

"Could you be more ignorantly cute?" She smirked. I almost stopped in my tracks as we entered the building, a narrow hallway meeting us with semi-clean walls and the nice smell of sawdust wandering in the air.

"Cute!?" I stuttered but Sasoku ignored me, climbing the flight of stairs in her usual annoyingly strutting manor that still managed to remain graceful.

"Whatever," I huffed, closing the door and following her into the living room. "Let's call Hireki and the boys." She shrugged and continued smirking, shedding her coat as I did the same. I remained stubbornly silent as we ventured to the second floor where the bedrooms and main office were, passing the paintings, photographs and wood stairs I had insisted on decorating. There was even a potted plant at the base of them, giving colour to the house.

We treaded quietly until we heard noise from the office and walked over, me stealing glances at the female twin.

Not standing the silence even through my pouting resolution I opened my mouth as the door to the office did the same and both stayed that way as the scene inside hit us.

I stopped breathing completely from shock. Sitting on the desk, open legged and flushed was the tall form of Ishi. His clothes were in disarray. The person posed between his legs, arms on his thighs was none other than Seitou, pressed against the other man, chest to chest, lip to lip and supposedly, tongue to tongue. At the sound of my halg-gasp half-shriek they turned around in a jerk to look at us. Ishi's eyes were wide and staring at us in horrified embarrassment. Seitou simply looked back at us with an unimpressed expression chest heaving slightly as Ishi mirrored his pants.

"Do you mind? We're busy," the twin said calmly though an edge of frustration ruffled his voice.

"Wah-you-him-penis-you-_him!__You?_Waaah?" I gasped, talking a step back.

_Ishi _and _Seitou_?! Making out!? What! When? How!

"About time," Sasoku said and I almost snapped my neck in half as I jolted my head to look at her.

"**WHAT?**" I shouted. How was this common news? They were always bickering, fighting, going on and on about how much the other annoyed. And now that? How did that even happen?

"Get off!" I heard Ishi hiss and he pushed Seitou's hand from his thighs, blushing even harder. It was an amazing thing to see an Ishi so red. Seitou turned back towards him.

"Oh so now you're a prude again. Great, thanks a lot guys," he said and I felt myself decomposing from the stress of accepting the information given. In a second, however, I sobered up as I remembered a scene much like this one with Takeo as the protagonist of my surprise. An old pain throbbed along the lines of my skin, robbing me of the present, if only for a second.

"Well, whilst you two resolve your latest lover's spat, Kushina and I are going to look for Hireki. We're having a business meeting later on." With that Sasoku turned around with a wide smile on her face, lighting up her aristocratic features as she pulled me along.

"Wah," I grunted.

"Don't tell her anything!" We heard Ishi shout and then Seitou said something which started another fight. Beside me, Sasoku rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure," She called out.

I _really _didn't know what was going on sometimes.

OoO

"Urgh! This is driving me crazy. How many problems is this stupid business going to have?!" I whined pitifully. I was _not_ made for business. It was too slow; too much theory and not enough action. Sure, it had its own kind of allure; an intellectual battle which I could tell the twins enjoyed, but it was not my forte at all. I was a physical creature; crude and blunt, a punch rather than a conversation at most times.

"It is the natural process of things. We'll get through them," Hireki said calmly from where she sat sorting through papers that were bumpy and thick with Braille.

It had been more than a year I had been working with all of them together. Of course it had been difficult at first; a mixture of Seitou's flamboyant flirting, Ishi's protectiveness, Sasoku's hedonism and Hireki's half-ruined innocence and my tactlessness. But we had progressed, bloomed, succeeded, and then there I was, in a nice office, sprawled across the sofa whilst I listened to the paper and stamp sounds of Hireki as well as the tap-dance of a typewriter under Ishi's hands.

"It's not that that I'm worried about. It's just _boring_."

Hireki laughed a sigh, shaking her head so her now longer black hair shook from side to side. I sighed and threw a hand over my eyes dramatically.

"Stop being so spoilt," I heard Ishi's low voice say. I shifted on the rough material I was over, whining, but he went on. "You knew what you were getting yourself into when you signed up for this. And anyway, the business is doing fine. Soon it won't need you at all."

I stopped moving completely so that the material that had been rustling fell quiet underneath me.

I knew he hadn't meant it in a harsh way, and it wouldn't have offended me even if it had, even though part of me was attached to the creature I had created. The company was now involved in making salted goods to be sent as provisions to other countries which were desperate for the food and so could pay fairly high prices, considering it was war-time. I had thought ahead and seen the clear problem with this; supplying one side would mean we were in danger of the other. Even if we didn't have military force we could then be easily targeted and once again destroyed. Because of this I decided to initiate the business with the two main forces and so ensuring a double-protection, even though the balance between the two orders was hard to achieve.

Despite the pride I felt towards this, however, I had never intended on staying in Whirlpool forever and Ishi's words made me realise that it may have been time to put the second part of my plan into action.

First, though,

"You're...you're saying that...even though I've given everything I have for this, after all this time you're going to just...discard me?" I said softly with mock-hurt. I sat up and looked at him. All was silent in the room; no paper rustling or clicking of buttons.

My greatest source of entertainment in Whirlpool was trying to see Ishi try and dig himself out of a sentimental moment. I smirked inwardly.

"That's not what I said," he growled roughly. His voice always turned harsh on compliments, it was one of his many...charms.

"Yes it was. You don't...you don't like me do you? After all this time, after all we've been through together you still don't like me!" I howled dramatically, burying my face in my hands. I heard shifting and I could imagine Hireki signing him to _do something_.

"No that's not...I don't...oh shut up, you know I see you as part of the family!" He nearly shouted and the typing returned with vigour. I lifted myself up with a dazzling smile on my face and jumped to where he was hunched up over the typewriter.

"Aw! Family, Ishi?" And proceeded to hug him and try and kiss his face whilst he pushed me off, grabbing me by the material over the back of my neck and holding me at arm's length. I settled for nuzzling his hand and wrist comically. At that moment Seitou and Sasoku entered. They both lifted one eyebrow and I could see Ishi blushing slightly, which looked hilarious on his rugged, manly face.

"What's going on here?" Seitou questioned, stepping into the room.

""Ishi _loves_ me!" I proclaimed which consequently caused me to be dropped on the floor. "Ouch!"

"I'm afraid Ishi's annoying sense of loyalty leaves only room for me in his heart, Uzumaki," Seitou said jokingly. Ishi glared at both of us.

"I don't love annoying brats," Ishi growled, looking pointedly at both of us and then sitting back down, resuming typing even though he probably was too distracted to do so properly.

The twins chuckled and I grinned at everybody's general direction as Hireki giggled.

I was to leave all this soon and even if it would hurt...part of me couldn't wait for the taste of the road.

**OoOoOoOoOo**

**A/N**

Thank you leta DeadlyCrimson and all which I do not own is not mine.

Please Review!

**Spoilers for ****Manga**

OO.

You

Traitorous

Murderous

_**Fuck. **_

That better not be the end of that fight. No way was Deidara harder to kill than Itachi.

Urgh, what a moment to take few weeks off. . . Evil, evil man.

I wonder what he'll ask. Why did you do it? Did you ever love us? Why didn't you kill me? How does it feel to be surpassed by your little brother?

Why are you such an crazy asshole?


	8. Chapter 7

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Seven_

I sat down in the bar, exhausted. My feet were lifted off the floor as I sat down on a stool, relieving the pulsing ache that had developed after walking in the thin shoes so long without a pause. I ordered some tea and settled my bag and coat down, investigating my surroundings. There were only a few people in the small room, mostly solitary and looking down, trapped in their own liquor tasting musings. There were two women beside me, however, both far beyond the prime of life, who were gossiping avidly in a drunken manner. I thanked the bar tender as he handed me a cup of strong-smelling tea and turned an ear to what the women were saying.

I had left Whirlpool a few months ago, having completed my work there. After setting up the fish-marketing business, I went around the island and convinced many of the villages to clean their beaches and ports. Interacting with people came easily to me and so this was one of the least challenging things; they could tell I wanted to help them and once they became active in their own community their own natural pride maintained the clean state I wanted to sustain. This plan took many years to prosper for, of course; no one wanted to take a beach-holiday in the middle of a war, but their touristic attraction later became a great income, especially when several bath-houses were set up which became famous. Red-district zones were eradicated or diminished as work was found somewhere else. Profit was then enough to invest in agricultural work and piece by piece Whirlpool was set and steadied into a climbing Wave. Whilst doing this I proceeded to set up a refugee camp with the condition that any evacuee healthy enough to work would do so. It hadn't solved everything and poverty had still been a significant problem but it was all I could really do, knowing it was up to the civilians and my friends to keep Wave going. With that I had painfully detaching myself from a three-year-old life and travelled around the war-waging countries. I forewent Fire country, the biggest and most influential of them all for precisely that reason. I also had something else I had to accomplish. I had sworn to bring down the killers of Takeo and that was a branch in Iwagakure, the hidden Rock village of Earth Country. But that wasn't immediately possible because of its topography; the country had natural borders made of high mountains. This made defensive tactics easy but also deterred communication. So I opted for Wind Country instead, a tentative ally of Fire Country, mainly prosperous because of its dealings with the powerful empire. I often visited tea-houses, well-off homes and bars in hope to hear strings of humour I could verify through different sources and means. It was pure luck that I had ended up in that particular bar in that particular night when I managed to overhear the two women mention the death of the great Sakumo Hatake.

My heart had almost stopped and I couldn't help but choke on the tea and turn sharply at the news, imploring the woman to tell me more. After ten minutes I had only managed to gather that she was an old woman whose niece, the wife of a powerful civilian warlord, had been saved by Konoha's White Fang. I refrained by commenting on the distasteful fact that her surely rich niece had left the old woman made of missing teeth and sagging skin in these poor conditions, and instead trained my attention on the slurred nick-name.

"Would you believe it!?" She kept repeating, slamming her glass on the grimy countertop. Her frayed grey hair swung dirtily around as she toppled around in her seat which would have fallen several times if I were not steadying it with my foot.

"Believe what?" I said, a coldness steeling over my inside. The great Sakumo, dead? "Who killed him?" I asked, which only caused the woman to laugh harder.

"Who killed him she says!" The woman shouted. A large, bearded man glared at us half-soberly in the dim light as the barman ignored us completely, probably used to every kind of loud voice.

I waited patiently for the woman to calm down and asked her again. Finally her liquor giggles died down and she looked at me with amusement.

"Killed? He killed himself! Committed suicide! I hear he left his son behind; something about a disgrace! Hahaha! I knew my stupid niece's saviour could be nothing more than a fraud. That good-for-nothing, selfish..." The woman went on into a bitter list of insults, spittle flying into her drink as she talked. I pulled my coat tighter around me, brushing the black hair of my jutsu-made disguise back as I abruptly walked out of the bar and into the equally hot and stuffy outside, though the heat was being pushed around by the constant wind of this country, one thing which I greatly detested of the place.

_Sakumo...Takeo..._

I clenched my fists and jaw in sadness and anger. He had killed himself? That was the ways of the cowards, not the brave. Especially if you were abandoning a child in the action.

For the first time in a long haul I really thought about Konoha. Not the fleeting, nostalgic whispers I got every day, but heavy memories that seemed to weigh me down. I walked away from the small, wooden bar and into the darkness of the street, contemplating how Konoha must have changed. I had collected a fair deal of information which Konoha would find useful and knew it was time I kept my promise of going back to visit. Yet, still, something was holding me back.

It was lying over the stiff sheets of the inn futon that night when I realised, or admitted, it was only fear that was doing so. What of, I either didn't know or refused to think about, but one week later an event steeled my mind in favour of visiting Konoha once more. I hid under another of my disguise jutsus as a middle-aged, unremarkable woman as well as concealing my chakra by a useful tactic I had developed, consisting of splitting it, charging it in opposite energies and, since I had enough, doing something similar to folding it over each other in a way which neutralized it whilst allowing me to use half of it. In the dust of the night I heard whispers of an attack prepared to Konoha from Earth country and after investigating exactly what it was about through my various connections developed whilst in Whirlpool I set off to Konoha once again.

OoO

I had thought about going in with a disguise, or with my dark blue hood up, or sneaking in to see if I could, but I knew that all of those ideas were simply manifestations of my fear and shameful to think about. I would enter through Konoha's front entrance, not like a missing nin or a traitor because I wasn't. Not anymore.

"Uzumaki Kushina. I have information for the Hokage," I called out as the patrolling Shinobi asked for the details of my visit. I was standing at the base of the wall surrounding the village, the welcoming watch-tower above me, ready to let me through or strike me down.

I heard a commotion of scuttling feet and fragments of conversation and then someone rushed forward, leaning over the wooden part of the watch-room.

"Kushina! Is that really you!?" A woman of around 35 said, black wild hair around her face and dark eyes looking down at me as I tilted my face upwards. She smiled and I smiled back as I recognised her. This was Kemuri, the Uchiha who had first escorted me to Konoha.

"Open the gates!" She ordered but I jumped towards a tree, created a shadow clone and made it throw me upwards and over the wall.

"Don't bother," I said as I landed on the edge of the wall. Kemuri looked at me amusedly.

"It's a bit troubling to see how easily it is to get over the wall," she said and I grinned at her, shrugging. The other guards were looking at me, a few recognising me and coming forwards to greet me whilst the ones who didn't fell back and watched curiously.

"Come on, I bet Sarutobi-sensei will be happy to see you," Kemuri said once I had untangled myself from the welcoming. With a deep breath and a waved goodbye we stepped towards the other side of the wall, catching my first glimpse of Konoha which had previously been hidden by an elevated wooden wall and roof protecting the patrols from wind and rain. I leaned against the breeze and took a deep breath.

"I've missed this place."

It hadn't changed that much at all. It was the same winding streets and crowded buildings, tree-houses, trees, all domed by the vast blue of Fire Country.

I breathed in the Konoha air and felt it rise inside me, the sweetest taste. This had a stronger feel of home than Whirlpool did, I found. Especially with Takeo gone.

"Welcome back," Kemuri said with a smile and my grin spread and took over everything.

I was finally back.

O

"Thank you, Uzumaki. Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, prepare a S&I team and two teams for a counter ambush," He ordered the two women and man who had listened to my information. The three of them nodded.

"And Akimichi, debrief Uchiha Kemuri to prepare all the others and to have a team prepared for backup. I know she's healing but hopefully we'll have enough time. Dismissed," He said and the three ninjas assented and walked out of the room with stern faces. Sarutobi-sensei turned back towards me and smiled tiredly.

"Lots of things going on," he stated. I smiled back and nodded.

"Can imagine," but didn't ask because I already knew most of the situation here. He nodded.

"Well, this at least was a good surprise. I'm glad you're back though I'm guessing it's not to stay," he said and my smile saddened as something inside me flickered at the mere notion.

"No," I said simply and he nodded again.

"Very well, I hope you will still keep in touch. Don't think your messengers fooled me, Uzumaki. Your information has been very useful," and I blushed faintly for I had been subtly relaying information to Konoha. My delicacy in informant-methods was simply due to the fact that only because I neither couldn't nor wanted to forget Konoha didn't mean I wanted to proclaim my presence to it either. It was just simpler that way.

Sarutobi looked at me as we sat there and I rubbed my neck self-consciously at his judgement.

"You've changed quite a bit, Kushina. I've heard stories of the things you have done for former Whirlpool and...I'm very proud," he said. I blushed and grinned.

"Come on sensei, don't be so corny!" I said, more or less just to prove him wrong. He laughed, shaking his head and getting up to look for something in a shelf on the left wall of the office.

"Well, I hope you soon find what you are looking for," he went on, which surprised me.

What I was looking for?

"Here," He said, cutting me off from anything I would have said by throwing a pair of linked keys at me. They rang across the air and clashed together as I caught them, looking at the Hokage in confusion.

"Minato's apartment keys. I can't think of a better place for you to stay," he smirked and I blushed hotly, feeling that same old anxiety burn inside me.

"I don't really know if I-"

"I do," he cut me off. "Now go and get some rest," and with that he had sat back down and started going through his papers. I looked at him for a couple more seconds and then sighed and shrugged, walking away. As I was just about to leave the room I turned back and said,

"Thank you," and saw his smile as I closed the door.

O

I had been to Minato's apartment before and it hadn't changed that much since the last time I was there. He was away on a mission around the borders so I was to stay alone in his home until he got back. I didn't know whether to smirk or grimace at the thought.

It was late into the early hours before dawn and the village was quiet under slumber. I had left the Hokage to find old friends waiting for me. Teishi and Kasshokumaru were both grinning outside the tower, Kasshokumaru wagging its longs tail in a way which threatened bruises. Teishi had grown taller and broader and his strong face was now lined with a faint beard which tickled my skin when we hugged.

Many of the people I had know were either dead or out on missions and those who remained invited me to lunch in my favourite Sushi place which I had missed greatly.

"What have you been up to?" Teishi had asked even though he probably knew much of it, canines glinting in his grin. The table was crowded with people and food and in my content I told them about the different people I had met and all curious anecdotes I had collected over the past four years. I told them about the people I was sad to have left behind in Whirlpool. The little girl who had made a living making popsicles and tricked a rich lady into buying a hundred. About the accountant in the fish market and how they were so smart they could predict how the next few month's sales were going to decline or incline. I laughed through the story of a tough little boy named Hatori who I had taken under my wing for a couple of months and taught him about the economy and the war. I had cultivated a whole life in Whirlpool, completely different to the one in Konoha, I realised.

In turn they told me about going ons in the Leaf Village. They told me about a boy named Kakashi, Sakumo's now orphaned son. Kemuri told me stories about the Uchiha children, about the Hyuuga and their trials and luck.

Konoha had clearly gone on without me, and it saddened and gladdened me at the same time.

But the night had come to an end, all of them having work to do and me as well, since I wasn't going to laze away the few days I was there.

"Meet us by the south tree at twelve, ok?" Teishi called out as Kasshokumaru gave me a last few licks. Considering he was a killer dog he was surprisingly friendly, I thought.

"Ok" I had agreed and after wandering around the still village, drinking in all its changes and all its familiarity. The big trees and old shops. I passed the Yamanaka flower shop and breathed in the sweet smell that always hung around it.

I ended up for a few hours on top of the Hokage mountain, observing Konoha and going from barely thinking to submerging in thoughts completely and back again. It was a mere hour till dawn when I finally stood up and walked towards Minato's apartment with excited apprehension, yet too tired to feel truly nervous.

The apartment was, predictably, still and quiet. It was situated on the top floor and as I closed the door around me I felt the silence oddly oppressing.

Was it right that I was there? Four years had passed since I had last seen him, only a handful of lucky-letters getting to each other through the battles and the sea. But our history together was still fresh in my mind, _years of friendship and hardship and conversations and moments and looks_ I thought but it hardly comforted me because he had had four other years to share the same with someone else. I had been faithful to him not exactly out of obligation or loyalty but out of lack of interest for anybody else. He was the strongest person I knew, the most compassionate, the most important. I didn't ache for him and I hadn't given up everything for him but I missed him and thought about him. I had spent years by his side and sometimes felt as if I needed his company or his advice but I had coped without him. And he had coped without me too, and maybe that meant moving on for good. I knew he would be happy to see me, I would never leave without allowing that, but maybe this was too much of an intrusion, maybe he already had someone who wouldn't feel comfortable if a woman like me stayed in his house as if it were mine...

I walked nervously into the living room, letting the keys fall on a small table as I looked at the sofas around the coffee table that was stacked with papers and files. There were paintings on the green walls and a large bookcase with a locked side and another one stacked neatly with books. The living room gave way to a medium-sized kitchen coloured a kind of pastel blue and yellow that would look good nowhere else. A small hallway branched out from the living room, containing his room and a bathroom. Ninjas that weren't from big clans often refrained from having unnecessary rooms; it was just more space having to be cleaned and more places for an enemy to hide.

His room was more or less as I remembered. A fairly large bed was set against the wall opposite the door, a window to the left with a big, cluttered desk under it. More paintings and shelves rounded the walls and a few cactuses were set about the place, just like in the living room and kitchen. They were the only house plants which ninjas could take care of.

I sat down in the edge of the bed and calmed down. Sarutobi-sensei wasn't a fool. He wouldn't have given me the keys if it wasn't a good idea and I had to admit I was going to enjoy staying in Minato's home. It smelt like him, the way the scent of homes often stick to the owner's clothes, generating a peaceful feeling in me.

Since I was there, I decided resolutely, I would make the most of it and deal with Minato once he got there. I wasn't one to over-think these kind of things anyways.

With that decision in mind I undressed and went to take a shower, a clean towel and set of underwear in hand. Once I had spent an excessive time wasting Minato's water I dried and dressed in one of Minato's shirts, the hem reaching mid-thigh due to the fact that I was infuriatingly short and also slimmer than his broad shoulders and muscles.

I looked about the kitchen and saw there was nothing that could easily go bad; no milk or eggs or meat or vegetables, and made a mental note to buy something the next day.

I stilled for moment and looked around silently. This was Minato's home. These dishes and floors, these walls, these appliances and papers were his. I took a deep breath and sighed in something that was half sadness and half happiness.

Too tired to snoop around I retired to his room and crawled under the covers, settling down quickly in its comfort. I closed my eyes and listened to Konoha, letting the pleasant smell settle around me and carry me off to sleep.

O

Predictably, I overslept and woke up to banging and barking. I immediately tried to ignore the racket but when a whole 15 minutes of its persistence passed I decided it wasn't going to leave.

After being dragged away from Minato's home by Teishi, I spent part of the day helping the Hokage with tactics, since I knew plenty about how the other Lands worked; not that Konoha was ignorant. The rest of the day I helped around, like when I had been younger. The hours there were made of the same old inadequate happiness I remembered from long ago.

I took guarding post in the night, taking the opportunity to catch up with old friends. Teishi visited me and we went around the boarders together, walking in silence or not being able to shut up.

As the shift came to an end he turned to me and said,

"I missed you," with that shit-eating grin he could do so easily. I mirrored his expression happily even though I hadn't quite expected it from him.

"Shut up you wuss," I teased but I knew he understood me perfectly. I could barely miss something more than Konoha's community, its blue skies and brave people.

"Thanks," I went on nevertheless. He chuckled.

"Ok ok lets not get corny here. I'll see you tomorrow," and with a goodbye, a wave and a wag of the dog's tail they were gone.

That night I decided to look around Minato's apartment more carefully. I wasn't about to break any sealing jutsus or look through his locked drawers but since I had hours to burn, a mix of anxiety and thought-filled insomnia having converted me into a midnight-oil burning creature, why not do it?

I made myself some cinnamon tea and started with the coffee table in the living room, putting some music in the old radio-stereo since I was at it.

It was all mission files and paperwork but I enjoyed looking at Minato's curled handwriting, which was pretty pathetic. I tidied the papers up since I could do it easily and moved on to the desk in his room. There he had a few bills and accounts and more paperwork and files. I studied the maps personalised with notes and markings and estimates. Someone who didn't know Minato as well as I did may have been impressed by the ideas. I doodled a bit at the corners of unimportant looking papers and added a few notes which I thought would be useful, just to be annoying.

I then amused myself by looking around at the different photographs around the house. The one on his desk was of him and his mother and father when he was a toddler, all round cheeks and bright hair. There were several of friends and different kids I didn't know. One was of Tsunade and Jiraiya and Nawaki and another one of all of us in the training grounds, a big bundle of teenagers climbing over each other and laughing and glaring and fighting. I seriously thought about stealing it but guessed that wouldn't be the best way to show my gratitude at being allowed to stay in his house.

It was whilst doing this that I found the one of him and me. It was on one of the shelves in his room and I picked it up, remembering the day it had been taken. It had been a chilly, bright autumn day when we were 15. My hair had grown quite a bit by then and fell in messy waves, my fringe in uneven spikes almost reaching my grey eyes. My Whirlpool metal plate was gripping my arm, glinting as Minato's did the same from his forehead. He was grinning the smile I loved, one that showed all his teeth as he closed his eyes cheekily. He was standing behind me and pushing me out of the way with a hand in my hair so that I was half-twisted to look at him, eyes narrowed in a glare. The semi-orange light from the autumn leaves glowed around us, especially in Minato's hair, and I had to chuckle at our expressions, but the noise was directly followed and wrapped in the aching grip of nostalgia.

Kami I missed him so much...

I put the photograph on the bedside table and after washing up finally went to bed, wondering the whole time when he would _come back_.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

**A/N**

Thanks go as always to my Leta Deadly Crimson who is so cool it may be contagious.

And, actually, a shout to _Anisky0703. _Your review was lovely and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm losing enthusiasm for the story and it was bringing me down, but all it took were those encouraging words from a stranger to give me a lift. So, thanks!

And on that note, I highly appreciate anybody who takes the time to comment, it really makes my day :).

Alright, guess that's it. Have my fist exam module on Tuesday, so wish me luck .


	9. Chapter 8

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Eight_

I walked into Minato's apartment with shopping bags rustling in my hands. Despite my mental note two days ago, I had only just bought the groceries due to the fact I had been provided lunch and dinner by different people the last few days, but most of my friends were already off to missions. We had collected on the final night of their stay to celebrate another goodbye for by the time they returned to Konoha I would probably be gone.

I went about the house confidently, turning on lights, hanging my coat, opening and closing cabinets and washing my hands as if the routine in Minato's home had never been a stranger to my senses. I set myself to comfortably making a stir fry and some rice, smiling at the simple fact of where I was. I looked out of the small, closed window above the sink to the steady light pinpricking the darkness that had fallen over the village. The atmosphere was so gentle and calm, silence ruined only by the sizzling of the food and my content humming.

Why did it feel like I was home?

Once the food was done I settled down on the lonely table and ate it whilst listening to the radio, more a means of filling the silence than informing myself of tongue-twisted going-ons.

It was still fairly early in the evening for me to go to bed by the time I had finished, so I washed up, caught my hair up in a messy bun, took out some papers and writing utensils and got to work on some diagrams, maps and notes.

Night darkened and stars shone as time stepped passed my oblivious self.

It was through my second cup of tea that I heard what I had been waiting for since I arrived in Konoha. The door swung open and as I looked up I saw Minato step in, a grown man made of muscles and bones and tan skin, blond hair in disarray and tired eyes.

The world froze.

Ridiculously, I thought about jumping out the window or attacking Minato so I could get away. Anything to shift that intense, shocked stare that was directed at me. Anything to not feel this fear inside.

Minato had grown. His hair was longer, bangs coming down to frame his face. His eyes were wide and unbelieving, searching me as I was him. He wasn't a teenager anymore and that struck me suddenly. I had created a life in Whirlpool and he had too, here. Though the fact was obvious, I had never really thought about it in such a manner. His image in my mind had been stilled in time.

Minato had a, admittedly, very funny, confused expression on his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape, literally not believing what he was seeing; me in all my messy glory, dressed in his clothes, drinking his tea. Using his paper and brush and ink and basically being me in a very surprising suddenness, probably.

"Hi," I said, smiling. Grinning. A joy so sudden it threatened to burst. He continued to stare at me.

"...Ku...Ku...what?" he asked. For being a genius he was surprisingly slow, I thought.

"Hi," I laughed, slipping the brush back into its ink-pot and standing up. "You get hit by the stupid-bus whilst I was gone or something?" I teased. If possible he looked even more surprised and maybe even stupider.

"Kushina...?" he asked faintly and something inside me squeezed a little bit.

_Oh God Minato, how did I leave for so long?_

"Yeah," I replied and walked over to him. He looked at me as if I were an approaching ghost, which wasn't most flattering but I guessed that 4 years without seeing someone and then suddenly doing just that would shock a person.

"Yeah, it's me," I said as I reached up to hug him, blood racing in my veins. I leaned upwards, heart in my throat, arms lifting, so nervous I felt something akin to the danger in battle, adrenaline electricity in my skin (_or was that just him?_)

I didn't let it stop me, however, but just as me hands brushed his arms I was suddenly pushed away and Minato had jumped to the side of the room in a flash of yellow and white. I stumbled backwards and turned around to look at him, terrified I was too late, or that I had come to a wrong conclusion when thinking it was ok to stay in his home. I started at him, a hand over place where he had pushed me, trying to get angry but not getting very far for there was an empty pit inside me which threatened to swallow me whole. I couldn't _think_. His eyes were narrowed and pose dangerous, every inch of him calling me an enemy.

Had every memory of him been wrong?

He opened his mouth to say something as I looked at him, paused, closed it and swallowed before opening it again and saying,

"Prove it." There was a lull of silence as his words hit and sunk in. The relief that swallowed me almost made me do something stupid, but I stayed put. I realised then why he had pushed me away and smiled a little before glaring at him and wrinkling my nose. Seeing this he took a step forward, stopped, frowned, and took a step back.

Sheesh.

"The Hokage was a _little _nicer when doing that," I grumbled, trying to lift the mood, if only my own. I ignored his look and tried to think of something that could prove my identity, feeling wholly awkward in being able to see him but not touch him after _so long_.

"Hmmm...Jiraiya...no wait everybody knows that. Er...remember...no wait someone could have seen us. Hmm...My favourite place to eat is...no that's too obvious...sheesh, er...oh! haha, remember when we were in that stealth mission close to Earth Country and you went into that lake even though I _told_ you not to and all those leeches got on you and you started screaming like a girl and-"

"I didn't scream like a girl!" He cut me off but he was grinning one of his wide smiles. I grinned back and for good measure made quick hand symbols, calling forth a water lynx. Minato looked at it as the creature yawned and stretched before I made is dissipate, staring with an intensity that threatened to burn me. All I had to do was blink and suddenly he was hugging me with that damn speed of his. He was a good head taller than me and seemed to wrap around me completely a shelter in himself. I wound my arms around him and pressed closer.

"You screamed like a five-year-old," my muffled voice said and his laugh rumbled through both of us. I hugged him closer and felt tears burn my eyes. We crushed each other almost painfully and I laughed wetly.

This was Minato I was holding..._Minato_...

He pulled back so he could look at me and I stood there obediently.

"What...how...just...I can't believe you're here," he said, letting his fingertips rest on my shoulder, my temple, my hair. I couldn't believe it either so I didn't say anything. It had always been an obvious fact that I would go back to Konoha, but doing it was a completely different matter, especially after four long years where letters were too difficult and messengers too dangerous. Four years when a million things had happen and a million things had changed.

We stood there for a while just looking at each other, drinking in the differences until I ended up in those same blue eyes which hadn't changed at all.

"You're wearing my clothes," he stated. This would have been a perfect moment to raise only one eyebrow but since I couldn't I settled for raising both of them.

"You're very observant today, Minato," I laughed and I was surprised to see him blush faintly and wondered if he felt awkward with me there. I looked at him curiously.

"Well there's some leftover rice and stir-fry if you want any," I said for the sake of saying something. He looked towards the kitchen and sniffed the air. I almost grabbed him into a hug at him at the adorable motion but managed to uncharacteristically restrain myself.

"Smells like cinnamon," he said, dropping his bag and jacket on the couch and walking towards the kitchen, pulling me with him.

"Yeah, I made some tea," I said as he let me go. I sat on the table and watched him investigate, lifting the top off the pan, sniffing around the kettle, observing the clean plates. He turned to me.

"I saw the living room. You _cleaned_?" He asked. I smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, I clean!" I huffed. So sue me, I hadn't been the most organised person when I was younger...

"Yeah...things change, huh?" he said and even though it was meant as a teasing remark it fell flat, into something lost and a little nostalgic.

"Yeah...guess they do. But you know what some people say; all change is good," I smirked, swinging my legs from the table. He smiled.

"So they say," and he looked at me with those blue eyes in a way that seemed to be asking a million questions and maybe my looks said the same because I was itching to ask him everything; what he had done every day of these four years. What he had seen, felt, heard, lived.

"I'm not really hungry," Minato said softly. In the silence that followed we could hear a nightingale call outside, the bark of a dog in the distance. The radio played a soft song with trembling cellos.

I got off the table and calmly went over to him in a spontaneous need to have him close. He observed me as I stepped near and finally wound my arms around his middle, pushing my forehead to his chest. I couldn't have cared less if it showed weakness or if it was out of the blue. This was _Minato, _my closest friend, even after all these years.

His arms came around me and we stayed there for a long time, finally resting.

"I...Minato...I missed you so, much," I said and suddenly I was crying, sobbing into his T-shirt like I had barely done these years past. One feel of him and I was 15 again.

"Ku-kushina," He said, surprised. I tried to pull away but he countered me, wrapping his arms tighter around me and burying his face in my now loose and tangled red hair.

"I've...Kushina, I've missed you so much, I..." He squeezed me tighter before pulling away only to crash his lips with mine. I gasped, startled, but recovered quickly, lifting my arms so they wound around his neck, fisting blond spikes of hair in one of my hands as the other trailed down his neck and up again, nails dragging slightly. He opened him mouth and I followed example, letting our tongues push and lap and war against each other before mine receded, mouth taking his in as he explored it. I tried finding skin but the lack of nudity was starting to frustrate me heavily and apparently it was him as well as he pushed me back, breaking contact for only a second to draw air as I stumbled backwards before kissing him as hard as I could, nipping and licking and feeling him for the first time in far too long. My back-side hit the table and Minato pushed me onto it so that I was sitting on it with his standing self _(in more ways than one)_ between my legs.

Guess he really _had_ missed me.

I was trying to rip his damn vest off him when suddenly he pulled away. I groaned lowly and his dark eyes looked at me seriously.

"Are you sure...is this..." He trailed off, looking worried. I gaped at him.

"Are you fucking serious?" I slammed him forwards and proceeded to ravishing him for everything he was worth. It wasn't even surprising how fast the awkwardness had receded. I had, after all, been waiting for him for too long.

Deciding I had had just about enough of his clothed state I charged my hands with chakra and sliced everything but his boxers off. Minato pulled away in surprise and I groaned again for he had just defeated the point of my manoeuvre.

"Ku-Kushina!" he exclaimed, looking down at himself. I took a second to appreciate his...grown...body.

I scooted back on the table, completely at ease now. We would have time to talk later but right then there was only one verb I wanted active, and it did not involve standing or talking...much.

"I like this dining-table business. We can leave our mark. We should invite someone over for dinner tomorrow, see if they can tell," I said cheekily. Minato stared at me. I smiled sheepishly. He laughed suddenly, loudly, eyes lighting up and I felt myself smile.

"I'm sure Sarutobi-sensei has half an hour free for us," He grinned. I mirrored his expression but it melted as he climbed onto the table and proceeded to relieve me of my clothes, his mouth coming over mine as often as it possibly could before trailing down to my neck to suck and lick and leave feather-kisses which were far too soft. I moaned as his tongue and hands explored my skin and smiled at the noises he made as I did the same.

I thought of nothing but him, his skin, his smell, his feel as I explored him as well in an amateur expedition. He kissed me in the mouth again, brushing red hair from my face with a calloused hand as he moved inside me, drawing echoing gasps and moans as we found our pace, increasing in speed and thrust. There was no Whirlpool or Konoha. I was never going to leave, time didn't exist away from that moment as I reached the peek and fell, fell, fell, crashing into him, and him into me.

We lay there for a while, content in our exhaustion before leaving the sweat and remains on the table and tumbling into the shower as he lead me by the hand and I wondered how he wasn't completely spent after the activities and mission. I decided not to complain, however, as we lathered each other, stealing kisses and touches and glances.

_I have missed you so much..._

With the same sated gentleness we dressed in oversized T-shirts. I even stole one of his boxers, thankful that he didn't have broad hips and that the elastic was small.

His smile was so beautiful and content as we crawled into bed that I felt a melancholically-edged happiness inside me, stealing pulse away. I pressed as close to him as I could and he wound his arms around me, my nose against his neck, breathing him in. Enveloping warmth came over me and there were no thoughts of how much I had missed him, or how much I would. I simply let the happiness of holding him, of having him there, take over any other thought or feeling. I sighed contently as he kissed my damp hair in the tepid bed and drifted, smiling, off to sleep.

O

The morning dawned in warmth. Slowly, lazily, time crawled over me and pulled me awake from the groggy confines of a content sleep. The world was made of adjectives and colours. Green in rustling blankets, yellow in bed-messed hair, white in blinding daytime, orange in a new, bright light. And then blue, the best _good morning_.

I stretched languidly, pulling myself against and away from Minato's body at the same time. I blinked all light fragments from my eyes and let them devour the sight of his tanned body sprawled over the bed as if he weren't a ninja used to danger.

Delicious.

"Mhhhm…I thought you hated morning," He grumbled and I snuggled against him, laughing into his skin.

"I thought you loved them. Some crap about the crispness and no one around?" I teased softly. His laugh rumbled against me and in that moment, so simple, I was completely happy. Neither the revival of Whirlpool or Takeo or my family (lost in memory), or the end of the war would have made that perfect moment better because they weren't part of it. It was just him and me and the light and the warmth and it was beautiful.

He threw his arm around me, lifting himself up in a fluid moment so that he was on all-fours over me, much too agile for such early hours. _What a freak_ I thought with a grin.

"Don't know…I'm not too fond of morning," he leaned in closer and who cares about morning breath when a guy looks that good? "But if they're going to be like this…" he trailed off and kissed me gently, a dawn kiss. I smiled and reached up to hook my arms loosely around his neck.

_Oh yeah, _I could get used to that.

He pulled away and we grinned at each other.

"Breakfast?" I asked. He let his head fall to my shoulder and chuckled.

"Thought that's where we were heading," He rumbled and let his hips press against mine in the _perfect _way. A small gasp escaped me.

Oh yeah, I could _really _get used to that.

After breakfast number one and showers, where breakfast number two ensued, Minato decided it was time for a more traditional meal and set himself cooking with the groceries I had bought whilst I distracted myself with further, supervised snooping.

"Oi, can I open these jutsu-shut drawers? They smell like top-secret stuff," I shouted to Minato from the living room as I looked the ordinary-looking bookcase over.

"I don't know. Can you?" He replied from the sizzling and clattering kitchen. I rolled my eyes and turned to look at the glassless window gaping from one room to another, allowing for easy observation and communication.

"Oh for- _may _I?" I re-phrased. Minato laughed, turning away from the burners to look at me.

"No, no, I meant really, _can _you?"

I raised my eyebrows and turned to look at the sealed cabinets. The jutsu was so complex I wasn't sure I could read all of it.

"Pfft, course, it was _you_ who did it, wasn't it?" I taunted, looking at him. He raised one eyebrow at me. _Yeah, right_ it said. I frowned at him, stomping over to the separating wall and leaning over the 'window'.

"You think I can't!?" I growled. Minato shrugged, not even turning to look at me, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

"I didn't say that. But I'd like to see you try," He said amusedly. My frown deepened.

"Fine! You will!" I said petulantly, went into the kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs around the table. Minato turned to look at me.

"Well?" He asked. I raised my eyebrows mockingly.

"You don't expect me to do it without breakfast, do you?" I sniffed. He grinned and went back to cooking whilst I got up, having only sat down for show, and helped him until we finally sat down to eat. I wolfed down as much as I could. He knew me too well to look incredulous or to expect any leftovers, though, and I liked that.

"Mmmm…that was really good, Minato," I said finally, satisfied, my hands over a bloated stomach. A smile played with his lips. "If you always cook this well maybe I should take you with me when I go!"

And we both stilled.

His smile dimmed, eyes looking down, away. In a second the mood changed into something more dangerous. I straightened up, leaning towards him but he didn't shift.

"So you are…? But yes. Of course." His voice was soft and guarded, which only sounded sad to me. I strained forwards, trying to reach him in some way but what could I say?

"Minato…I-"

"No. No, it's ok, I...understand," he said and starting collecting the plates, distancing from me, but I reached out and grabbed his arm painfully, making the cutlery clatter onto the table.

"No! no it's not…you don't understand! You don't understand at all! Because you can't! Because it makes no sense because….because I love you and why would…? But I have to. I…I can't leave one for the other. I can't have both so I can't have either, not yet, not until…my promises…" I stared at him, pleaded that he recognise my argument. I couldn't infiltrate in Konoha and become part of it just like that, not when Whirlpool-_Wave_-Whirlpool was waiting for me somewhere else. Not when Takeo's murderers were free. I would be of so much use if I went solitary, even if it was the most unnatural thing for a ninja to do.

He looked at me with pained eyes and I regretted ever saying anything, having twisted the scene in this way. I squeezed his arm, _pleading_. For a moment there was absolute, breath-held stillness before he pulled a step back from the table so that I as pulled towards him by my hand clutching his arm. I side-stepped the table and stumbled to him, where he caught me, gently, gently, like he always is.

"I'll wait for you," he said softly and my insides clenched, my throat and eyes burned.

_Always so easy to make me cry. _

"No, Minato…Oh God don't say that, don't, I'm not w-…Minato" I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to step closer but he wouldn't let me, tilting my head up and waiting until I opened my eyes. When I did a tear rolled quietly down my cheek and his face was distorted in my sight, a glimmering blur of yellow and blue.

"You are worth every second."

I closed my eyes again and pressed my lips together, wanting to scream, to say _don't be so corny_, _don't be so __**stupid**_. To ask why, _why me_?

But it didn't matter in the end, didn't matter why for it wouldn't change that it simply _was_. I reached up and kissed him hard, kissed him with all the regret and sorrow that a moment ago had been happiness and contentment. Pressed against him and thought, _just because it's going to be over doesn't mean we shouldn't grip what's left with everything we've got. _

O

The training grounds hadn't changed one bit, still green under blue, a stir of breeze and a whisper of trees. How could Konoha seem forever peaceful in times of war?

"Show me then. I couldn't believe it when I heard...heh. The nick name I gave you. You're so sentimental, Konoha's Yellow Flash" I teased and yet looked at him ruefully, tilting my head to the side slightly, observing the man I had left. Waiting.

He smiled, a sharp expression that almost cut, before he suddenly disappeared in a flicker of movement, only to be behind me in the same instant, kissing my nape gently, a whisper of breath on my flesh. But there was a hint of teeth, of danger. I tensed so suddenly it was almost painful, delicious. I could taste the power at the back of my teeth, the smell of a fight like thunder in the clear sky.

"Create a hundred clones. Scatter 50 across the field, and keep the rest in a line. Order the latter to throw these kunai at the rest of them and...watch," he ordered in an intimate murmur. I gripped the kunai in my sleeve and whipped around, aiming for his neck, blade exposed, but he had jumped away. We smirked at each other.

"Alright, hot shot."

I did as he asked and watched my water clones climb out of the liquid. They could feel the tension as well as I could and didn't protest even in joke at my orders. The scene was set, 50 of me holding the slightly heavy weapons in one hand, posed to attack.

I watched Minato approach me, not moving a muscle, hunter vs. hunter. He leaned down, lips inches from mine.

"At your signal and...don't blink, Kushina. Not even for an instant," he breathed against my skin. I poked my tongue out, brushing his lips with it.

"Go."

I had never seen such a spectacle before.

In a single second my clones had launched the kunai at a tremendous speed against their twins. And in that same handful of seconds, in that single moment, all fifty attacked were dead by those same kunai launched and yet not because of me. The scene was thunderstruck by the yellow flash that flickered between clones, exterminating them. Watching it was like looking through the snapping shutter of a slow camera. I could barely follow the movement.

All that was left was 51 surprised looking Kushinas and damp earth. And...

"What do you think?" I could hear the amusement in this voice.

I'd always saidhe was a conceited little fucker

I shrugged, turning around to look at him. He was panting and sweating and obviously exhausted. His clothes were damp with what would have been blood if they hadn't been clones and I saw how strong Minato had truly become. Not just strong but formidable. He had always been ambitious in that passive, creative way kind people sometimes are when they're that smart. But this...he had reached a level to be remembered for.

In one fluid motion I appeared before him and kissed him, leaning forwards on the tips of my toes. I kissed him aggressively, power for power. We pulled away and he tried to say something but I cut him off, capturing his lips once again and pressing him against me.

What could I say? I pulled away myself and he gasped for breath. I smiled at him.

"When you become Hokage of Konohagakure...you'll make the village proud," I said quietly but firmly. He knew how important it was for me, that a village had a proper leader. How crucial it was to not only have power, but strategy, mercy, reliability. A person like me would have trouble, but him...

He stared at me in surprise, even blushing. His blond hair was stuck to his forehead, away from his eyes so that the blue pierced intently into my grey.

"Hokage...?" He said, as if he had never even thought about it, which I was sure was a lie. For a moment a let my smile soften, let my eyes absorb his image and felt truly thankful of having met him, of having the opportunity of loving a person like Minato.

"Yeah well don't get too cocky, you only got all my clones cause I didn't know what you were gonna do. That 'aint gonna happen again, you know," I said loudly, pushing him away.

"And now you're all tired and blergh. If this were a real fight I would have to carry your ass home. Let's go, we can get some take-out sushi. Ooooh, and fish-paste cake! They do the _best_ here," I said energetically, signalling Minato to hurry as my remaining clones melted away with a collective splash. The blond sighed but smiled and as he stumbled forward. I put his arm around my shoulders, helping him walk.

"You're such a pain," I complained with no malice. He chuckled.

"And you're obsessed with fish-paste cake. Which, by the way, should only be used to decorate soup," he pointed out. I looked up and stuck my tongue out at him, earning a roll of his slanted, animalistic eyes.

One day, I was sure, he would be Hokage. He would have to lead a village, protect it. Would he have space in his life for a wanderer like me? I wasn't sure and it frightened me to think about the consequences of the life I had chosen, caught in between countries, loyalties. Minato would have to find a bride and produce a heir of some kind and if I couldn't be that person then...he would have to choose someone else.

In that instant, however, it didn't matter because until then we would keep on living as him and me, belonging to nothing but this god-forsaken war.

O

The dawn was humid but warm as it watercoloured the sky over Mt. Hokage pastel pinks and blues. I tightened my pack closed, checking I had everything simply to procrastinate. I could feel Minato looking at me silently, calmly, leaning against the kitchen wall in only pyjama trousers and bed-hair. He himself was to set off to a long mission later that day, his pack and weapons scattered over the living room floor and table ready to be found and packed. The atmosphere was tense between us, a melancholic edge given to the memories of the past few days. Parting between ninjas were always caught between a final goodbye and a 'see you later', but there was little more that I could do but hope for the 'later'.

"I guess this is it..." I murmured, feeling heavy, reluctant and guilty. Why did it feel like I was forever leaving people? Despite the fact that visiting Konoha had brought me a sense of respite, it had deadened a part of me as well. Hireki's prophesy came back to me; _you will betray for the rest of your life..._

"For now," he finished. I looked him in the eye and smiled crookedly.

"Yeah, for now."

I walked over to him slowly and pressed my lips against him before pulling away only to rest my head on his bare chest, arms going around his middle. I heard him sigh softly and then take a deep breath as he lay his head over mine, arms coming up to wrap me in them. We stilled and simply breathed for a while, touching but not searching for more. Just _being_.

"I'm sorry," I whispered almost inaudibly. There was a second of silence before his arms squeezed me closer and he whispered,

"Me too."

OoO

_**A/N**_

Thanks to all of you who took the time to review!! I actually wrote this week, a whole other chapter. I've written up to chapter 11, including. This story is 90 pages now! TwT

Well, hope more feedback is offered. I actually gave you a naked Minato in this one. Hawt hawt hawt.

..._Hawt_.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Nine_

I sighed in pleasure as I stepped out of the bath-house, feeling rejuvenated by the calming effects of the hot-spring I had just been in, its incense and heat releasing knots of tension and opening pores so that I could _breathe. _

I was in the Land of Lightning, close to Kumogakure, the Hidden Village of the Clouds, which was famous for its rivers and curative waters. It was far away from the lands I had ventured in previously in an attempt to see if there was unique information I could gather there. So far, however, the great amount of hot-springs and high quality inns had incapacitated my news-collecting streak so that I had gathered far less than I could have.

I was determined to get down to business nevertheless, and set down the path with a marching step. I was enjoying Lightning Country a lot. I didn't know if it was the constant lightning storms or the beautiful, enigmatic markets and roads but the place was very _alive_. The structures were mostly low-levelled in fear of electrical strikes in tempests, their tops coloured by vibrant wind-mills and windows filled with music by the chimes. The main of it did not seem to be affected very much by the war; probably because of their small part in it due to the distance. It was a respite to be in such a place.

The tea house smelled pleasantly of herbs, mixing with the lulling warmth of the vapour from the nearby hot spring.

At that moment, however, I had other things on my mind apart from the good quality tea for I was being accompanied by Sasoku. I did not know if it was by coincidence, for she was the one who travelled the most, or if it had been a planned meeting, since I tried to keep my Whirlpool-team updated despite the difficulties in the task. I did not question good new further, however, and simply grinned and threw myself at Sasoku as she appeared outside the tea-house.

"God, Kushina, have you put on weight?" She joked as she hugged me back briefly before pulling away. I mock-pouted at her before leading us to a two-person table in the stone-made room. Wood was rare in structures because it decayed easily in the village's misty and wet conditions.

"I'm glad we could meet up," I grinned after we made our orders. Her almond-shaped eyes flickered over me and the smooth skin by her eyes wrinkled slightly as she smiled with her lips closed.

For the next hour we spent the minutes catching up, never awkward or pausing in our conversation. Though she was naturally reserved and quiet she had opened up since our first enigmatic meeting. We had progressed to the point of being able to chat enjoyably together, or to support silences between us easily.

After filling me in with the progress of the business and health and lives of all its partners we turned the subject of talk towards what I had spent my time doing whilst away. I filled her in on some of the information I had gathered and the things I had seen. Finally, though, she said,

"You've been to Konoha." I smiled at her, getting the impression that it should have been more of a question than a statement because I hadn't mentioned anything about my visit there.

"How'd you know?" I asked. For a moment her gaze seemed to question or analyse my figure. I looked at her too. Taking in the intense eyes, smooth skin, red lips and purple hair which was half-messy due to the humidity and electricity of the place.

"You seem more at peace," she said finally. I cocked my head, taken aback by the comment.

"Really?" I mused, pulling at a strand of my hair in thought, "'cause I feel just as guilty."

Contemplative silence fell between us. I noticed the cloud-filtered sunshine falling through the large windows that overlooked a sand garden and then a vine-covered wall which hid the hot-spring from prying eyes.

"It is your decision whether to feel guilty or not but there is no need for it. You have mistaken views that a person such as yourself should belong to one village. We understand, you know. That having ties with two means belonging to neither. And it's ok. Just because we miss you," her nose twitched slightly at that, as if it were an uncomfortable truth, "does not mean we would force you back if given the opportunity."

I stared at her as she finished, poise casual as her back rested on the back of the chair languidly. I felt warmth spread over me at her reassurance. My own sense of betrayal came from the thought of the pain I left others in, the help I removed. Knowing they were ok without me both hurt and lightened me.

"Thanks," I replied softly and she finally looked away as if she had seen all she needed to.

The conversation progressed rapidly away from the personal subjects to what she had supposedly gone and met me for.

"I've heard you mentioned on various occasions about you animosity with Iwagakure in the Land of Earth," Sasoku began, putting it lightly. "I've heard something about the Hidden Rock Village that may interest you."

"What is it?" I questioned eagerly, interested at once. Rock shinobi had been those which were Konoha's main aggressor along with the people who had killed Takeo and Tsunade's brother, Nawaki.

"As you know they are surrounded by mountains which are graced by strong winds. Oh, stop looking so impatient. There was a sand storm alongside the boarder, right beside one of the entrances, which is rare in itself. It caused quite a bit of commotion but the most damaging of all was that in the middle of the storm the strong winds knocked down some of the rocks on the side of the mountains and has disrupted and destroyed a great deal of the entrance which means that their surveillance is very weak. It's the perfect moment to infiltrate if that's your plan," she finished. Slowly I grinned.

"Sasoku you hero," I said. "How did you find out? They obviously must be desperate to conceal the fact," I had to ask. She shrugged.

"I have my connections," She stated ambiguously. My grin widened.

"Aaaw, spying at them for my benefit?" I teased. She snorted as if indulging me but didn't oppose to the taunt.

"Thanks, Sasoku. Really, you have no idea what this means to me," I said softly. She looked slightly taken aback by my sudden change in tone but smiled anyways, shrugging again.

"Don't mention it."

We stayed in the Tea-house until closing hours and then rented and inn room together, talking and enjoying each-other's company.

But all the while images of Iwagakure was playing in the back of my mind, an animal with its stomach exposed. My impending prey.

O

Sasoku had been right, the section of the border most affected by the storm was reduced to crumbling panic as the region tried too quickly to pull itself together. Too many people had been killed or been left without work. People capable of heavy labour were needed to remove the debris and start re-constructing the most essential part of the protective structure. More workers were needed to supervise and guard the area but between the injured, scared and mourning the place was having great difficulty setting up an efficient protection. As the female twin had advised, therefore, I slipped in carefully and quickly between their midst. I had a slight difficulty because despite their sudden lack of resources the suspicion of intruders had multiplied. This forced me to skirt or melt in with large groups of people. No major incidents were caused, however, probably thanks to the fact that I am a woman. Despite it not being rare for a female to be ninja or even leader of a ninja village it was still not commonly socially acceptable for a woman to be highly regarded in the non-ninja regions of the countries except when they are but mere exhibition pieces displayed by their husbands for the envy of others. Even in ninja villages, positions of power and even high-ranking titles are much more common for males. I didn't worry myself about it, however, for I knew that as long as women _could, _they would.

Once inside I found I barely had to worry about my image except for concealing any ninja traits I was capable of. I guessed that the lack of caution even in times of war was due to the fact that it was incredibly rare for people to manage to pass the borders, even when a disaster such as the one which had occurred took place.

This peace, however, did not last for long. Knowing myself, I should have guessed.

I had been going around the different villages, being sly about gathering as much information as I possibly could about the whereabouts of Iwagakure and their military force, strategy and weapons. With a bit of sake, letting my kimono slip from my shoulder slightly and then picking it up as if embarrassed modestly and feeding male ego, the task was not terribly difficult. Most of the time I dedicated myself to capturing high-ranking men drinking alone and steering the conversation as if ignorantly to the war. By appearing completely amazed by anything the men said about Iwagakure I managed to keep them talking, almost boastfully, and they often revealed more than I'm sure they were conscience they were doing in order to impress me.

It was a handful of weeks into my journey when I first toppled into trouble.

Though I don't regret my actions I have to admit they were not the wisest. I was lost to my often trouble-making, impatient and impulsive nature as soon as I saw the crouching figure of a male shop-owner, however.

I had been walking down a large and semi-busy dirt road when I was attracted by a commotion to one side where people were collecting and whispering. My eyebrows slanted down and heart-rate increased as I took in the scene and asked a fellow observer what was happening. What lay before me was a middle-aged-looking man, kneeling on the ground and alternating between protecting his head and trying to get up to plead his case. The Lord's soldiers, clad in the traditional kimonos and plates of armour belonging to their rank were shouting in a leering manner at the man prostrated before them, hitting him with their sheathed swords when they judged he had said something out of line, which seemed to be often even though the man was barely able to speak. The story behind the disturbingly common sight was that the uniformed men seemed to be carrying out orders to punish the man for a debt not paid. The money, however, was not owned by the man's family but by the previous owners of the shop. The charges had been sprung upon the man on the dirt floor without warning and without the money to pay someone else's mistakes they were taking his wife and only daughter away to the brothel to make the surplus.

For each word revealing the events I grew angrier until the woman who was gossiping to me asked me if I was alright for I looked flushed beneath the dirty grey clouds of Earth Country. I brushed her off with an assurance that I was _quite alright_ and pushed my small frame through the crowd that had collected around the scene. I came to the front so that I could see every detail; the bruises and sweat on the victim. The glint of smiles, of disgust, of superiority on those inflicting the pain until I couldn't take a second more of it.

"Ah!" I shrieked as I purposefully bumped into someone from the crowd and then stumbled forwards into the ring where the dishonour was taking place as if someone had pushed me. I cluttered weakly until I crashed into one of the prosecutors.

"What the-" the soldier grunted. Gasps and muttered were alive at once within the spectators but I had no time to think my plan- or lack thereof- over. What could I do, after all? Anything I could do as a ninja would be highly suspicious. I was on a mission which I was placing in danger with my reckless stunts. I nevertheless took no head from the logic of those arguments, determined to at least argue for the man's rights.

"What do you think you're doing, girl?!" one of the men shouted needlessly for I was standing a few paces away. I couldn't disguise my disgust at them and for the moment all their attention was drawn towards me; supposedly a simply civilian from Earth. A woman, no less, dressed in an obviously modest dark blue kimono with a simple pattern. That was the image I gave and which I had to maintain in order not to be killed on the spot.

"Nothing, I have no real business here, but I have to say what you're doing is completely disgraceful," I frowned, trying to keep my rage simmering to a gentle frustration. Half the men I was talking to looked incredulous whilst the rest were looking at me with their expression twisted into a condescending leer. I chanced a glance at the man on the floor and saw that he was also looking up at me with wide, unbelieving eyes. Their brown depths contained no hope.

"You're right, you have no business here. Leave before you get into trouble," an expressionless man to my right said, his eyes hard and so dark and unmoving they made a shiver run down my spine. This man would kill innocence without regret.

But I was never one to relent to such impudence.

"I'm afraid I can't. What you are doing is wrong; the debt is not this man's to pay and so his family should not suffer for it. Is our Lord really so unjust for his soldiers to demand such things, especially in times of war? Don't you have nothing better to do than- ah!" I cried out as the back of the cold man's hand struck my face. In the heat of my argument I couldn't have avoided it even if I had wanted. I let myself collapse to the floor by the force of the strike. It wasn't particularly painful but in order to restrain the flaring hatred I felt for these people I left myself on the floor, looking down for a moment, a hand over the abused cheek.

"That, girl, is for you impudence. If you don't want to get into more trouble you will leave quietly," he ordered and turned away from me as if I was worth no more of his energy. I had to physically restrain myself from reaching inside my clothes and pulling out a weapon.

"No," I bit out. _This is a mistake, you're not resolving anything_, a part of me hissed, but I was way past the point of no return.

I glared at the men in front of me, ranging in ages and heights and looks. These were normal people, torturing their own land.

"What you're doing is completely unjust!" I shouted, barely able to contain myself any longer. "What if he moves from the shop? Would he no longer have to pay off anything? How does that make any sense?" The same man who had hit me turned back sharply, his uglyly pinched face making it obvious he was not used to being defied. He grabbed my hair and yanked upwards sharply so that my scalped burned with the jolt. I could have easily avoided the attack but there was so much ducking of his grabbing fist I could pull off without making it obvious I was trained in battle. I yelped and grabbed his hands in reflex to try and make him let me go. The man pulled farther so that I was standing and then teetering on my tip-toes.

"Stop! Please, in the name of Kami-sama stop this!" The man who had been being victimised was saying but they pushed him back, the soldier's eyes, filled with lust for violence, trained solely on me. Around us people were silent in amazement. And even then I could not be kept quiet.

"You cowards! Let everybody watch as you beat a woman for standing up for what is right!" a fist to the gut punctuated my sentence and I retched in surprise, arms coming around my stomach to protect myself, wishing passionately that I could just form a water jutsu and be done with it.

"Why don't you prosecute the people who really owe you the debt-" Another hit. "Instead of wasting your time punishing the innocent!" Another. "Is this how justice works here really?" a kick, jeers. My hair was pulled higher so that my feet left the ground. I contorted my face in pain. "Cowards!" I shouted and spat in the face of the nearest man. He howled in indignation and disgust and I was thrown on the ground, sliding on the stones and dirt, making the skin on my palms and knees scraped off. Kicks rained and more shouts were heard from the only man who was trying to protect me as I did the same for him. My anger could barely take the humiliation the men were giving me and slyly I faked rolling to the side in pain, jolting my elbow on someone's shin, forcing him to fall down with shouts of raged pain and surprise. I scrambled over the man and shot into the shop, bruises and cuts faded out by adrenaline. In my rush all I saw was a blur of food and traditional Japanese paintings in the store. I reached into my kimono and before the men could scramble after me I took out practically all my money I had I had taken with me dangerously in case I had to stay an elongated period of time in Earth Country or ran into some trouble that demanded it.

"After her! Now!" I heard someone shout, followed by more commotion. I scanned the room quickly, panting and red with rage and pain. The shop had stairs leading upwards and I ran up them, ignoring the twinges of pain. A shabby but well-cared-for, small apartment met me. I ran into a room and saw it must be the only bedroom, containing a faded, sinking double-bed and a desk that looked as if it had been handed-down many times. What surprised me, however, was the girl and woman standing in it, each holding a pan and thick wooden stick respectively as a make-shift weapon. They were trembling, dark hair tumbling on their shoulders as if caught unprepared, but their eyes were like mine; determined, enraged.

"I'm not here to hurt you. Fuck, here, take this," I left the money on the bed at their surprised and clearly questioning eyes. I didn't have time to fight with their questions or doubts. With that I threw the only window open and jumped out it and unto a roof as I hissed at them,

"hide the money!" before I ran away, the booming steps of the soldiers an echo on the stairs.

OoO

I stumbled down an isolated alleyway, passing the back of restaurants, packed apartments and shops. Rubbish was half-buried by all the dirt under my feet, dirtying the air with its stink.

"This fucking sucks," I mumbled as I lifted my shirt to inspect the skin under it, coloured in different shades of bruise. To be beaten up by a bunch of civilians, not even samurai at that, was a disgrace for a ninja of my calibre. It was, however, a sacrifice I was willing to make, to retain my innocent visage in Earth Country.

As my feet stuttered their way forward I was faced with a minor dilemma. I didn't know whether to stay for a night in a local inn, laying low and departing at sunrise so that I could take care of my wounds, or leaving right away, which could lead to worsening the internal bleeding but also a safer option for I would lower the chances of meeting the guards once again. I grumbled to myself, trying to make a decision as soon as possible. It was even more dangerous to distract myself in the open and be captured for my earlier disrespect to the infuriating men I had met.

I reached the end of the alley and peeked outside it. I was quite far away from the trouble I had caused at the shop. No one would believe a civilian could travel such a distance in such a short space of time and therefore I was fairly safe, for the time being. My theory was re-enforced when the street I looked at was fairly quiet, without guards patrolling or aggravating the people in this place. I stepped outside and resumed a careless step, hiding injuries in the folds of my movement. I looked around pseudo-carelessly, taking in the calm scene. There were a few houses and restaurants; not particularly good ones by any means but a neighbourhood in its own right. I was truly struck by how placid everything looked. I had seen signs of the way in this place; demolished areas, rationing, poverty, the lack of young men as the Lord probably tried to back up the ninja troops with samurai. But I could also witness a normal, ongoing life in this place. A life not unlike that in Fire Country.

At this comparison a knot formed in my stomach. I watched two kids run out of a house, shouting and laughing and then race away, dust kicked up like smoke from their heels.

I had gone to Earth Country to punish them for Takeo's death. Not only that, I was that place's enemy. Since Whirlpool had no military influence I classified myself as a Konoha ninja in the power struggle that was taking place between countries. I was acting, therefore, as a pawn of the war. All is fair in love and war, and I was acting on both.

Yet these reasons tasted like mere excuses. I wasn't going to give up the fight against Rock Village simply because I understood their life; we were, however much I disliked it, in a war. But could I go around slitting the throats of Lords in their sleep? It was so unlike my nature that the mere idea was repulsive, and yet I could think of nothing else. If only they would grant me a fair fight; some kind of deal and treaty, then I could start the ball rolling for peace against Rock and Leaf instead immersing Rock into panic until they were weak enough to defeat. It was getting that fair fight that was impossible, however,

"Yow!" I was ripped out of my thoughts by a jolt of pain as someone bumped into me, pressing right on my injuries. I squeezed an eye shut in discomfort and glared through the other at my aggressor who had stopped and turned to look at me at my shout of pain. I clenched my fists shut in order not to press my hand against my side, where it most hurt. I blinked tears away from my eyes and saw that the man was looking at me with a half-concerned face, asking me something repeatedly.

"Yeah, I'm dandy," I muttered, not being able to contain my sarcasm. His jagged dark eyebrows slanted down under a messy black fringe of hair which reached his shoulders where it was tied back loosely. His face was very attractive, with a square jaw and a scar shaped like a C under his right eye. He was dressed modestly in dark-coloured, casual clothes which begged lack of attention. All of this I graced no more than a glance, however, for it was when I looked into his eyes that I stilled, sucking in a breath. They were a clear green, like the sunlight that jumps off leaves in Konoha's summer. They were the same green as Takeo's.

"Sorry," I breathed automatically, feeling a pain deeper than that under my skin. "I didn't mean to snap, you just surprised me when you snagged me with your pack," I half-lied, not being able to take my eyes off his as memories flickered on my eyelashes, scraping at the back of my teeth, between the hairs on my arms; invading me.

"You look quite faint. I'm sorry for the push. Here, let's go into this tea-house until you look less...stunned," he suggested steering me into one we had just been passing. I walked forwards, a little dazed at the sudden ache for Takeo but mentally shook my head as the delicious smell of the place hit me. I was _starving_ and had, I remembered, given away practically all my money away.

"Hey, thanks!" I said as we sat down on a rock-made table in the pleasant room. There was a family and then a group of three travellers composed of a pale, tall man with sharp features and glasses, a rugged looking man with dark skin, wild hair and static eyes and a petit woman with a kind face, all guzzling down food like it was about to run out, which only served to make me hungrier. I turned to the man who had sat me down and saw he had been looking at me, holding an amused expression. I grinned at him.

"I'm really hungry," I admitted easily. He smiled and his eyes softened with the movement. He put his pack on the table and called over a waitress, ordering a few plates of food and some tea.

"I'll invite you, then, for my carelessness before."

I laughed, thanking him. Finally, some good luck.

"I'm Hiroshi." He didn't offer a family name so neither did I.

"Kushina," I responded, slanting forward slightly to imitate his bow.

"Are you a traveller?" I asked. "With that pack on your shoulder you seem like one."

He shook his head, propping his elbows on the tabletop.

"No, not exactly, I'm just here on some business. I was about to exit the town in a few hours," he said. "What about you? You don't seem from around here," he asked and his eyes flickered over me. A spark of discomfort shot through my insides but I just shrugged, leaning back lazily.

"My village was demolished in a ninja attack. My family was killed so I'm just wandering around until...well I don't know, until something happens," I replied. He nodded.

"I see."

The food arrived, plate after plate until I could hardly contain the saliva in my mouth.

"Itadakimasu!" I practically shouted, separating the chop sticks and diving into the food without further preamble.

"Oh man, this is really good," I said around a mouthful, looking up to see him still looking at me with that faint amusement of someone who had never seen something like the messy spectacle I was mounting. I laughed sheepishly, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

"I'm glad you like it," he replied and dug into the food himself. We spent the next couple of minutes in a strange sort of comfortable silence; two complete strangers coincidently sharing a meal.

When we finished eating and moved unto the hot tea we talked about the local news, neither of us wanting to venture into our own lives. We discussed gossip and tales we had heard, laughing or shaking our heads at different situations. Thankfully I could fake being from Earth Country easily after gathering information for the past few weeks on the status of the place. We distracted ourselves completely with our conversation and it felt so good to rest my tired and battered body that before we knew it, more than two hours had gone past. It was regrettably and half guiltily (though for him or Konoha I am not sure) that I reminded myself that the man I was sharing food and words with was part of Earth. But his voice was deep and gentle, his manner and aspect handsome. There was an ease in our conduct which made me relax more than I should have.

Finally, however, we said goodbye to the girl who had been serving us and exited the tea-house. We walked down the street together, not even remembering if this was the way I had been walking, not that it really mattered.

"What are you going to do now?" Hiroshi asked, turning those green eyes on me. The sun was close to setting and the glazing of the rocks were glinting orange, illuminating his features warmly so that the scar on his face threw a small, moon shaped shadow on his cheek.

"I don't know, move on I guess," I shrugged, a little sad at the notion of having to part ways but shaking it off easily. I was used to it.

"Kushina..." he called softly. I turned to look at him again and made nothing of his serious expression.

"Hm?"

"Why don't we travel together?" He suggested. I cocked my head to the side, thinking. Would that be a good idea? It would help with the disguise and he also had money that could help me buy food and a stay in an inn. It would, however, limit my freedom of questioning and that was a major disadvantage. But I could also leave him if that became too much of a problem, and company didn't sound too bad.

I grinned at him openly.

"Actually-"

"That's her! The woman from before!" someone said suddenly. I cut myself off and turned around only to see a few of the men from before accompanied by other soldiers. My insides plummeted, coated in hope. My heart raced at the shock.

Of all the places...

"Shit!" I said and turned quickly, jumping away in order to start running. They **were very close, but if I fled right away I could shake them off** between the criss-crossing dirt roads.

I took my first sprinting step away but was suddenly thrown off balance as I was grabbed from the hand and pulled backwards.

"Wait! What's going on?" Hiroshi asked, a look of true confusion on his face.

"No- let me go! Qui- yow!" I tried to pull away but in those few lost seconds the men had reached us and pulled me towards them, holding me still.

_Fu-u-u-ck. _

"Who are- oh! Yatsuma-bochama! Oh, er, we were expecting you to have left the village already. Er...thank you for holding this culprit back!" one of the men suddenly spluttered. I stained my neck back, looking at the half-frightened faces of the soldiers and honestly wondered who the hell they were talking to. A young lord? Where?

"At ease, men. What has this woman done?"

I turned to look at the source of the voice I hadn't even recognised and saw it was Hiroshi who was talking in that winter tone. I stared up at him as if it were a completely different person. Gone was that spark in his eyes that reminded me of how kind Takeo had been. The strong edges of his face were hard and clenched, his posture firm. The scar only served as a warning of deadliness.

"What the hell, Hiroshi?" I asked, so confused my head was starting to hurt, along with my arms, locked behind me by the now wimpish soldiers. I gasped out of my stare as one of the men struck me across the face and I glared, angry at them and at myself for showing weakness. For being caught by these imbeciles.

"She caused a disgraceful commotion in the east of town when we tried to collect a debt. That mouth escapes her, disrespecting us like she does you, Bochama," he informed. I struggled against the strain of the hands on me, infuriated, wondering why Hiroshi was just _standing _there.

"That's not the only thing that managed to escape you bunch of useless bastards!" I hollered defiantly only to be stuck and shaken. I growled at the treatment, honestly considering just beating all of them in the head until they didn't remember any of it. My pride would not take many more hits from the men.

"This woman needs to be punished," one of them said and my whole body tensed up as someone undid the top part of my kimono, opening it up, revealing my bound chest that hid weapons inside. If they undressed me they would see them and..._shit_. I felt a hand press against my bare, uglily coloured stomach to show their earlier work and grimaced in disgust.

_Fuck. This. _

I pushed backwards, knocking them over as if it were in simple womanly distress and scrambled free with pinches, scratches and bites. I jumped forward, free, but couldn't bring myself to run away, I was so angry.

"Why the hell are you just standing there!?" I screamed at Hiroshi, or at the person who was borrowing his features. But could I say I knew the man after a few hours of conversation with him? He had seemed so sincere, so open and kind and..._fuck. Just, fuck this and all Earth Country_, I thought.

He did nothing more than stare at me impassively and halted his men when they tried lunge forwards. He looked at me as if he fully expected some submissive cowardly action now that I knew who he was; the son of Earth Country's main Lord, Yatsuma.

"Go home, girl," he snorted condescendingly, eyes made of stone. I felt rage fester.

"Fuck you," I spat and with no further warning kicked him right in the face with as little skill as I could manage. He stumbled backwards with a grunt of pain as the soldiers erupted into shouts as their precious lord started bleeding from a broken nose.

The last thing I thought before they knocked me out was,

_That felt good. _

**OoO**

**A/N**

Thanks to my beta and reviewers! A million times over.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Personally I thought it was a bit boring but let's see what u think. Please remember to review. I'm hoping I can get motivated to write and will then update this faster. :D

**Real Manga Talk: **I am very very very very very scared of Itachi. Me thinks he overdosed on happy pills. But don't tell me what happens in the last one, haven't read it. :D


	11. Chapter 1o

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Ten_

I was woke up groggily, encountering the world with much reluctance. There was a haze of colour, then sound and finally, achingly, feeling.

"Oh man...not this again..." I groaned, shifting my muscles, testing my bones and skin. I focused my sight, wondering where I could be as I remembered the scene before my K.O.

A barren, grey room met my watery eyes, made of cold-looking stone with only a basin and the cot I lay on as furniture. There was a large metal door on the opposite side of me and I knew without having to test it out that it was locked.

"Shit," I grumbled, swaying my way onto my feet, sitting down again when the dizziness of lying down too long hit me.

Guessing at my situation, I was probably in some kind of prison or dungeon belonging to the Yatsuma. The mere concept of it pissed me off. Not only was I pathetically captured by those men despite being a ninja, I had reserved my skill precisely in order not to land myself in such a scenario. I didn't regret my disguise, however, for I knew if I had been captured with their knowledge of my status my chances of getting out alive would be much worse.

I felt around for my wounds, making sure none were serious when I suddenly froze up as I remembered the weapons under my kimono. Frantically, I took the top half of my kimono off, ignoring the bruises that sprang to sigh and reaching back to make sure I had everything well hidden. It was with a sigh of relief that I found everything in its place; it was obvious they were underestimating me to the point of not searching under my clothes.

I put a hand to my racing heart and another to my bowed head, breathing deeply. I was knee-deep in trouble. All I could really do was sit in the wolf's lair and wait for an opportunity of escape that did not involve ninja skills. And if that couldn't be managed then a Kage Bunshin would have to be put into action that could last long enough for me to get the sufficient distance between the Yatsuma and me.

My head jerked upwards as the door creaked open to reveal the impassive-looking form of Hiroshi, a thick bandage over his nose. My face crumpled into a glare at once as anger overtook me. The traitorous bastard. What was the point of those hours of chat, that invitation to travel with him, if this was his life? My sole guess was that he had known I was chased by his men and had caught me with his kind green eyes.

That same gaze flickered over me and I realized I was half-exposed, despite the bandages around my chest. I covered myself quickly, narrowing my glare even further when his eyes lingered.

"What the hell do you want?" I snarled. Why would the young lord me visiting me when he probably had countless subordinates which could do the job for him?

He said nothing, continuing to stare at me. He was dressed in a formal kimono, rich in pattern and probably made of silk. I scrunched up my nose as he left himself unmoving in the frame of the door, a cold photograph.

"Where am I, then? What do you want with me here? Are you going to impose another of your ridiculous laws on me and execute me for a fast tongue?" I snorted impetuously, raising my nose in the air. There was a moment of silence that stretched like barbed wire between us before he answered impassively,

"You're in one of the cells of the Yatsuma Main House. You will be moved later today to stay in one of the servant rooms. From tomorrow on you will be working here until you pay an amount equal to Saitoro's debt. That is your punishment for your 'fast tongue'," he surprised me by responding. My eyes widened. _Saitoro's must be the shop-owner I helped, _I thought, but was still confused as to the punishment. Being a servant in the main house... that was supposed to be practically an honour, even if it was without pay.

"A servant?" I repeated. "Here? Are you serious? Aren't you scared I'll break your pretty face again?" I sneered. His eyebrows twitched into a frown for a second before he turned around and swept out of the room, not even forgetting to lock the door. _What a pain_.

I jumped to my feet, not even paying heed to the jolt of pain from my already receding bruises and slammed into the door.

"Hey! This isn't fair; let me out of here! Let me out you bastards!"

I was sure my actions weren't helping any but...

"_Let me ooooooouuuuuuut!_"

OoO

I was cleaning silver for the enemy. Every bicarbonate brush of the cloth in my hands was a rip in my honour. I retained the image of a dying Takeo in my head, the blood on his chin and lips, the way his smile didn't break until the very end. I remembered his flickering eyes, so green it was like the earth was trying to crush me whole. The confusion of battle had been rippling around us, shredding the very air we breathed with dust and blood. I saw Takeo go down in a horrified, disbelieving way. The enemies were fatal and there were _so many_ of them. They had trapped Takeo in a genjustsu which a had finally dispelled by inserting chakra into him once I got rid of one of my aggressors with a kunai to the stomach but he was already shaken an weak from the attack. Minato and me covered him as best we could, however, complimenting well with each other as he sped from person to person beside my water animals and my physical attacks, gaining ground from close combat whilst Takeo attacked long-distance with his arrows that he had trained to chase his target around.

But in every fight there are casualties. It could be because of lack of skill or simple bad luck, but whatever the cause, that fight had chosen Takeo as its victim. A pack of the Earth Shinobi had snuck up on him as Takeo shot down one of my close calls. He had ruptured the whole earth in an attempt to protect himself and just as we all thought he had succeeded, as the dust settled and the screams were killed off, just as we thought the battle was over, the shinobi I had stabbed through the gut had reached upwards from Takeo's blind spot and sliced him through, beyond medical ninjustsu. My scream had echoed in our ally's ears as I ran forward, catching my best friend as he fell do the ground, sword still through him. Digging deeper, killing further. The world had stopped and in a part of me had never started again.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the image for the countless time. Takeo had been full of kindness, generosity, _life_. He wasn't a broken figurine on the forest floor of my last memory. As much as I felt like I was betraying him for being in the Main House, he would have preferred it to me slitting someone's throat in the middle of the night.

"Kushina-chan, the young lord awaits you," one of the servants, my colleage, suddenly called out, making the shaking silver in my palms be gripped in alarm before I relaxed.

"Any specific reason?" I asked rudely. The woman sighed slightly, brown hair in a neat bun as her green, almond-shaped eyes reprimanded my tone.

"He has a guest and asked you assist with the tea," she replied. I frowned. Why would he specifically request me? After all, I hadn't seen the young master except for casual meetings in the expansive hallways of the cold house that at times seemed more a presumptuous art gallery than anything else.

"Ok then, whatever the master wants," I ground through clenched teeth, positioning the silver katana in its place on the wall and left the room with one more longing look at the weapons.

I wasn't used to feeling so _useless_.

We walked briefly across the bamboo floors, watching the shadows behind the paper screens, flickering like morose puppet shows. It was late and the lanterns were already lit, meaning that the visit was either fairly informal or the guest was staying over, for I had heard of no gathering that was to take place that week.

"Shinta, you know what this is about?" I asked the young maid quietly as we turned another corner. I had made quick friends with most of the staff and servants despite my obvious disrespect to the owners and founders of the area. I was sympathetic and yet not pitying of their position and regardless of their talk of honour at having such a duty, I could still see the trapped, restless look in the eyes of the younger generations. The old servants who lived in the premises I warmed up to with hard work regardless of my fast tongue as well as my unforgivable nature of trying to draw everybody around me in.

" Not really. The young master has never asked for the specific service of one of us, that's usually the Lord and never for such petty things as serving tea," the petit woman said. "All I know is that it is his fiancé you will be entertaining. Here we are, down here," she motioned and before I could inquire further, we were going down a large hallwayswith landscape pictures hanging on the walls; beautifully filled with mountains in fog and bamboo forest paths.

"Here, child, quick, they are waiting," one of the older servants said, prune skin sagging and grey eyes reproaching, handing me a tea-tray quite brusquely. I rolled my eyes as I was ushered to a sliding door, fussed over to make sure I looked presentable.

"For Kami's sake don't dip your sleeve into the tea-pot again. You would get a lashing in such presence," she warned and I scowled sullenly. It's not like ninja's spent their free time in kimono's, serving tea to assholes.

"Yeah yeah," I muttered before blanking my expression, setting my feet together straight and holding the tray balanced as the door was slid open with a pardon. I entered and had to scan the room before I lowered my eyes, my instincts not able to resist the precaution. As Shinta had suggested, however, the only people in the room was the young lord accompanied by a striking woman of typical Japanese beauty; small mouth, dark eyes and hair with skin made paler with powder. Her form was slim and petit with angular features. Alongside the pair who hadn't even turned from their conversation to acknowledge me sat an older man who I supposed was acting as chaperone. The room was wonderfully decorated in a feminine way; watercolour paintings of geishas and sakura blossoms, small tables with co-ordinated figurines and potted plants which told of wealth. Everything in the household was rich and in-place. As I kneeled down sideways on the clean floor to prepare the tea, since I was not part of the entertainment, I thought of how _wrong_ the world I was in seemed as it was looked upon with my orphan, war-scarred eyes.

I turned into the conversation discreetly; one of the few advantages and reasons I was staying in imprisonment. If I had wanted information on rock, the household of one of the main families was a perfect place to be. I was just hoping that my over-sized pride would take the brunt of the stay long enough to gather something useful beyond the price of silk, as was the current topic being discussed. I peeked beneath my eyelashes at the woman again, listening to her smooth, sweet voice. Everything about her screamed some sort of royalty; from her poise to the expensive cloth on her milky skin. I poured the hot water quietly, folding my sleeve out of the way just in time and frowned slightly at the sudden feeling inside me. Strangely, as if to compare the doll that was talking to the young lord about the most striking thing in her life, Sasoku sprang to mind, with her sarcastic _honeyvinegar_ voice and striking eyes. The way she always lounged above me and would say _you're so cute_ so casually. She was a good friend, one which had stuck by me and protected me throughout my re-constructing years at Whirlpool. Yet I still found it strange to feel the sudden ache in my chest, _missing_ her as she snorted in my mind, looking down at the fiancé, satirical and condescending to all the frivolousity present.

In my seemingly ever-present silence I carried the now tea-smelling tray to the low table where the couple and the third wheel sat, setting the cups down without a single tremble or falter. My hair was, for once, pulled back in a presentable bun, a small pin holding back any stray hairs from my forehead on the right side so that there wasn't any (other) mishap on my part. I saw the woman pause fractionally in her conversation to look at me with her elongated eyes, glancing at my hair almost distastefully. The impulse to stick my tongue out at her or throw the burning tea in her pretty face had to be controlled severely. I _liked_ my red hair, which was at the moment accentuated by the bland colours of my thin kimono as well as the soft colours in the room. It wasn't the most practical shade to have for a ninja's purpose, for it was the equivalent of wearing a brightly coloured jump-suit on a stealth mission, but I found it added an edge to my skill. I wasn't one to attack from behind; to cut throats in the dark. I was someone who was going to shout in your face before punching in it and my hair was testimony of that.

I wanted to be _seen_.

"I see you have gotten new servants. I'm not surprised, with that silly girl that served us last time," the woman suddenly said, lifting the tea to her lips. Part of me was quite impressed with her boldness. Many civilian woman were subdued by men's superiority and I just viewed this characteristic as another sign of her obviously privileged background.

None of the occupants of the room spared me a glance and I was glad for I had stiffened at the comment. I had not expected their conversation to steer towards me; gossiping about servants was, surely, far below the bar set at 'capricious pride'.

"Yes," the young lord said, also sipping at his tea. The chaperone hadn't been served any but I was sure that if he had, the awkwardness of the conversation posed in front of the subject of its talk would have forced him to take a distracted gulp.

"I hear she's here to pay off a debt. That's quite unusual isn't it, Hiroshi-san?" she asked innocently. I didn't wonder where she had heard that; I didn't care what the woman thought was usual or otherwise. The conversation was not a benefactor to my purpose and I was becoming quite bored with the antics of rich life. If it continued for much longer I would have no other remedy than to escape in the middle of the night and leave it up to their imagination as to how I escaped, for now that I was staying in the servant's quarters there was no lock and bolt to get through.

"Yes, it is, Emi-san," Hiroshi replied amiably, but did not elaborate further and I wondered why, my curiosity tickled. This was supposed to be a future matrimony in play and yet the coldness was becoming apparent to me. It obviously wasn't a blind-marriage situation, for it was evident they had met before. Couldn't he satisfy his fiancé's obvious prying? Something like _I simply couldn't resist my bi-polar, assholeish instincts and had to observe my slave suffer through hours of cleaning all my fucking silver _would have done perfectly.

"Any reason why such a low specimen of behaviour was made an exception?" she inquired further. I bit my tongue. It was so lovely to be talked about like that; I could hardly stand the warm and fuzzy feeling inside me.

"She is an obvious negative influence on others and I thought it best to keep her under personal watch and hard-labour."

I snorted inwardly. Hard-labour? Barely. I didn't know if he was lying or didn't know the meaning of the words but the level of cleaning and washing I was doing was taxing, but not cruel. I didn't move a muscle through my brooding, however, simply ready to pour more tea if needed even though I was asking myself why exactly I had been placed in the main house when surely a brothel would have been a worse punishment. Maybe they knew that wouldn't keep me in.

"I hear she has quite the mouth on her. The peasants are getting worse these days, rebelling at the slightest. It's a disgrace," she sighed as if it were a great tragedy. I couldn't help the scowl that came over my features. One of those _peasants _she talked about were worth more than all her precious wealth.

Thankfully I didn't have to lunge and gauge her eyes out with blunt nails, for the conversation steered away from me and into something far more interesting for me; politics.

I found it highly foolish that they talked so openly about current, private issues in the chaperone's and my presence but I wasn't one to complain against good fortune. I poured tea slowly to the sound of secrets in the open; faulty tactics and problems with rationing, which were affecting the poor the most by the sound of it, not that it seemed to be of any concern to the soon-wedded pair. It did surprise me that they were discussing such morose subjects, however, and the most mature- and influential- part of me conceded that they may not have been as spoilt as all other action indicated.

When the tea was spent and the hours even darker than before, the conversation finally reached its end as the woman gracefully got up, chaperone following her motions like a trained animal.

"I will see you tomorrow then, Hiroshi-sama," the woman said at last and glided out of the room and into the torch-lit hallway. I made as if to get up as well but was halted mid-movement as Hiroshi said,

"Sit. Shinta, bring the drinks, I will stay in this room. Let Kushina pour them and leave me," he ordered, letting someone else exit with the tea-tray and enter with sake and a small platter with some food I didn't recognise. I was startled at the quickness of the rehearsed movements for suddenly it was just me and Hiroshi in the warmly glowing room. I frowned instinctively at the lack of a honorific even though I rarely bothered with them myself. But that the bastard deemed to assume he was anything close to a friend was more than worthy for a laugh. I assumed, however, he didn't exactly have much of a choice; I had given no hint of a surname.

The silence in the room was thick like cotton around my ears, only made worse by my acute senses picking up noises from rooms nearby. I poured the sake without care, fed up, not comprehending why the hell he couldn't pour a drink himself. Was his retardedness invalidating his hands? I brooded moodily to myself, wishing gory deaths to his pretty face.

"What did you think of her?" he asked suddenly. His voice and question shocked me so severely out of my bloody musings that I spilt the sake slightly on my hand and without thinking, lifted the wet appendage to my mouth and sucking the tangy taste away, looking at Hiroshi with wide eyes. Seeing him follow my movements and realising the vulgarity of my actions I dropped my hand to my lap sheepishly only to become angry once again at my reaction.

"Beg pardon?" I bit out testily. I was _not_ used to being under strict authority unwillingly. Hiroshi watched me intently, not gracing the sake his lips in favour of the entertainment I obviously offered.

"I questioned your opinion on Emi-san," he asked again. I internally snorted at the name. A beautiful picture; the 2D image described my image of her perfectly. Skin deep and just as shallow.

What could I say apart from _I think she's a waste of space_? The question was posed for a negative opinion. A trap. I would not fall into Hiroshi's schizophrenic lures again, I resolved.

"Emi-san seems to excel in all qualities desirable in a woman," I replied evenly, pose submissive with my hands on my lap and eyes downwards lest he see the spite in them.

"I see," he said shortly and drowned the sake in the cup, holding it out for more as if I were some sort of barmaid. I thought of Jiraiya as the smell of the warmed liquid became more apparent. Hiroshi seemed to be practiced at drinking, for sake was supposed to be sipped at, not shot.

I observed the man who had betrayed me so purposelessly in glances. Those green eyes that had so enraptured me at our first meeting were narrowed in contemplation, the cicatrized skin under his eye throwing a faint shadow on his skin. His nose was slightly crooked, no longer perfect, a little red-looking from its recent encounter with my foot. I smirked inwardly at the reminder and noticed his jaw line was more pronounced as he clenched it in what seemed to be frustration or worry and I wondered what he was thinking of. Maybe the wedding, I guessed, and was jolted slightly when his eyes turned to look at me. I sat still, growing irritated at his insistent glare but kept up appearances for the sake of further information.

"That demure act you're pulling does not suit you at all, Kushina," Hiroshi's deep voice was a susurrus across the room, making me look up sharply, angrily. If I had had better control of myself I would have denied him what he obviously wanted; to rile me up. I would have shaken my head and clasp my hands and murmured his name with a _sama_ at the end, posed like a question. But I couldn't bite my cheek hard enough to stop the angry accusation that left me.

"You don't know anything about me, coward. Don't sit there and presume to see through me simply because I'm not happy with the shit I obviously have to put up with against my will. So why don't you finish you sake and let me the fuck go, hm?" I snarled. No regret followed my onslaught for it was that or breaking his nose again, and this time I would make sure it couldn't be set as easily.

Hiroshi seemed surprised at my sudden harshness as I let pretences fall. He _didn't_ know me well enough. If he did he would have expected his taunting to be successful.

"But I was right, wasn't I?" he insisted, "you are putting that little innocent act up."

I snorted, clenched my hands, unclenched them, itching for them to undo my bun or not have the kimono so restricting against by legs.

"What great intuition that conclusion must have taken you. I'm sure that none of the staff could have guessed I don't particularly enjoy being held captive by some rich bastard playing lord," I drawled sarcastically, grey eyes flickering towards him to judge his reaction at being insulted. His eyes narrowed, skin tightening, but nothing else. He didn't move, didn't strike me, didn't call someone or shout. I stared at him and around us there was _silence_. Not the silence that is created by a complete lack of sound but one which is manufactured my humans when things become too tense, like an encompassing bubble trapping us in our unbearable stillness.

"What do you _want _from me?" I hissed without menace. "Why am I here? Why not a brothel, why not a prison, why not dead? Why are you keeping me here?" I asked, peering at him as if I wanted to read the answer off from every pore on his skin. For a second his eyes flickered, hesitated.

"I don't know," he said, and I wondered if that was the first truth he had said to me since we met.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**A/N**

Whoo, I actually liked that chapter. It was fun writing Kushina.

Thanks to _Every Dog Has Its Day_ for Letaing and for everybody who reviewed :D

Not much to say this time...hope you've enjoyed and please review :3 Yosh!

Actually, it would be interesting to know if you like Hiroshi. Do ya?

:D


	12. Chapter 11

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Eleven _

Sometimes I just had to stop and admire the beauty of the house I was residing in. Even doing menial chores like running across the floor, washing them as if it were training, or carrying around piles of laundry to wash and hang, I could still admire the way the house was decorated. Some parts were cold, too open, too unused, as if what had belonged to them had died a long time ago. But then there were others parts, like the garden. Sometimes I would spend hours at night, alone with my restlessness, staring at the elaborate natural decorations. There was low, well-cared-for grass interrupted in some order by plants, most of which I wasn't familiar with due to my lack of experience in Earth Country. But what truly captured my attention, for some reason, was the larger proportion of sand-and-rock gardens which were scattered like dry lakes. I loved how the grains rippled around the rocks as if by their impact, caught in complete, silver stillness as the moon captured their curves. Every few days, like some sort of slow tide, the patterns would change, raked clean and anew by men in the early morning.

I was admiring that same garden one afternoon in which I had been let off early and did not feel like being surrounded by the friendly servants due to my increasing frustration and impatience, when I properly sat down and looked at the garden in the burning-out-sunlight. I expected fully that staff were not supposed to lounge about in the open but until I was caught and forced down to my quarters I would breathe fresh air as much as possible.

I frowned at the shapes laid before me, trying to sort myself out. I hated it where I was. My dreams were often plagued with an image of Takeo who was tortured into something which my memories of him denied existed. He would stare at me with those green, green eyes and whisper in my ear so that I could almost feel his breath.

_Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. You have forgotten me. _

I would deny his accusation, would feel the pain of them clawing, ripping, would try to get close to him; always closer but never reaching him as his eyes narrowed and a scar appeared below his. His hands were suddenly on my throat, squeezing, a grip so hard I barely thought of fighting it off as I stared into those eyes, changed now, the face with a square jaw, with a broken nose.

_You are the enemy here, not me. Traitor. Traitor. Traitor_, he would snarl as he suffocated me, repressing me, encaging me with his words.

_Traitor._

Each morning all I was left with was the impending feeling of lavishing in the enemy's bed and eating their food and enjoying their company as I was so used to doing with people- just enjoying being with them. But I had to view it as a mission. I had started collecting valuable information as I often scouted the area, spying. I had once even served dinner to some high-ranking officers who had let drink loosen their mouths spectacularly. I knew weaknesses, strengths, plans, predictions. But it wasn't _enough. _Part of me was actually waiting for blood to spill for the debt to be paid.

I looked at the sand that seemed to be controlled by the rocks, and the leaves that skirted around them, and the artificial, small waterfall with the often misty pond and thought, _why can't we just work together? Wasn't that what Takeo was talking about...just, just, learning to live with one another, earth with sand with fire with mist with water. _

I looked up as I heard a noise and saw that Hiroshi was standing there, looking at me with those green eyes and all I could think, all I could _feel_ was, _Takeo I miss you so much. _

"Pardon me Hiroshi-sama, I should not be here," I said calmly, looking away and getting up. We hadn't seen each other since a few days ago when he had admitted to some unknown ulterior motive of me being there and then left without another syllable.

"That's ok. You can stay," he said. I shook my head, dusted myself off, took a step back.

"Thank you but I was just leaving, it's getting cold," I rejected, my formality flat and false. I just wanted to be alone, _anything but alone. _

I turned around, my head sick with the thoughts that would not cease, with the mourning that had not been completed, would never be completed. Earth country was an infection for me, opening old wounds slowly, reminding me of every failure, of what my chosen place was. I didn't want to mope around the place and brood on how unfair the world was as if I were 12 and leaving Whirlpool for the first time again. I wanted to snarl my tears away, suck it up and the next time I saw Minato I would make sure to let him know how much he meant to me. How late at night, surrounded by the other servants or trees or rocks or just plain darkness he would always creep into my mind like a torch in the middle of a storm of unsettling thoughts. He would stand in the eyes of the tornado and smile and I would remember the little silly things he had done, like spill drink over him or run his thumb from my jugular to my ankle or laugh with his eyes closed. I would think about Takeo and him when we had spent days together all those millions and millions and millions of years ago in summers filled with strappy tops, training under the sun until Takeo got sun-burned and I passed out and Minato would sweat as if it were part of a championship, or in winter missions when we would knot the sleeves of our jackets together and huddle in one single spot, throwing the impromptu, warm cover over us, me squeezed in-between my boys, fog in front of our eyes by our collective breathing, smiling at the press of bodies that was comforting as if we had all been whispering, _I love you, I'm here for you, forever, I love you._

"Please. Don't- Kushina, please stay," Hiroshi said, the slight falter and sound of my name, unhindered by suffixes, making me halt and sigh. I turned around again, sat down again, looked at him again. Here I was. Again.

We stared at each other and his eyes were nothing like Takeo's and I'm sure that mine did not resemble the look I would have given my friend.

"What do you want?" I asked finally, inpatient. The stillness that followed was so tense that I felt startled when a grasshopper warbler chirped in one of the trees, a rare, nocturnal sound. I turned to observe my company. He was tense and soldier-like looking again. Something had broken the spell that let his second personality seep out; the one I had talked to when I first met him. The one that had asked me to travel to him, that faltered, that said _I don't know. _That one that actually made some fucking sense, or removed all of it. I was so confused. I wanted to get out of there. If only I could leave someone infiltrated in the household...

"I don't want anything," he responded. I raised my eyebrows.

"Then why did you keep me here?" I asked with a slight smirk, as if he wanted me more than I wanted him, as if it were all some elaborate game I actually wanted to be playing. A question with a double meaning.

"Because I want you here," he responded emotionlessly. I let my smirk drop, surprised at his blunt answer.

"Why?" I questioned, frowning. His eyes were staring at me, almost without blinking, and I felt like I should grip all my secrets and guard them safe from this man. I shuddered slightly and then my eyes widened as he started undressing himself. I shot backwards, hands in front of me.

"Woah, woah, what?" I stuttered, watching him take only his outer kimono off, grabbing it with one hand and extending his arm towards me as if in offering. He looked at me and for a second I thought he was going to laugh for a smile wavered on his lips before being extinguished.

"You said you were cold," he clarified, looking that much smugger. I sat upright, lowering my hand slowly regarding the extended cloth as if it were some race of toxic waste.

"I'm...not," I said slowly, no doubt in a very retarded manner. But the sudden generosity given with an almost straight face had caught me off-guard. Did he go around taking his clothes off for every servant? _Ok, that just sounded wrong_, I berated myself mentally.

"You said before you were. Lying to get away from me?" he suggested calmly. I nodded,

"Yah."

"Then why did you just shiver?" he persecuted, his expression not even changing at my admittance. I frowned. Was shuddering a crime or something, I questioned irritably. Had I just broken a major code of honour by letting my muscles tremble for a second?

"Sheesh, fine, gimme that," I muttered, swiping the offering from his hand. In the back of my head I noticed how casual I was getting with him. I was lowering my guard again, like I always did after talking to someone for an extended period of time. It was one of my major faults as a ninja.

I wrapped myself under the soft material, letting it fall on my shoulders and tightening it with one hand over my chest. A soft scent wafted over me. Something herbal. Like incense and maybe some kind of spice. I wondered briefly what he would have been doing with incense. Praying to what? For what?

"You know... I don't know what you're afraid of. If it's that you think that once you stop being a complete dickhead people will cease respecting you I'm terribly afraid that's not gonna happen. The staff respect you but there's something else," I stared at him as he looked back with faint surprise. "They like you. So fuck off already and stop acting like you don't give a shit because...because it's obvious that you do." I got up, walked towards him, letting his kimono slide off me and on his lap. "I'm here, after all."

I walked into the house, leaving Hiroshi in the new night, the sky still dimming to black. The sooner Hiroshi got that stick out of his ass the faster I could get out of the main house without a hitch.

_**OoO**_

"Yeah, sure, charming. If you ignore the severe bouts of assholeishness due to the insane swings of mood bordering on multiple personality," I growled to Shinta. I had grown the closest to her, being a few years older than me and accompanying me in most of my chores. She seemed to think I was spending time with Hiroshi for some reason beyond him stalking me.

"Kushina!" she admonished, flustered. "You shouldn't talk about the young lord like that, you know," she replied as we continued peeling potatoes. If only I could have used my wind-cutting manoeuvre on the vegetables they would have been stripped in a matter of moments. I shuddered at the thought of being stuck as a civilian. Senses hampered, chakra inexistent. I would rather be blind.

"Why not? I don't know why you keep defending him, Shinta, honestly. That guy..." I growled. The woman looked at me, pretty face frowning.

"What? What has he done to you except order you around?" She enquired. Obviously she wasn't as well informed as Emi.

"He was the guy who put me in here!" I exclaimed, almost cutting myself with the knife but managing to keep the string of brown peel and my fingers intact. "I met him. We had lunch. We talked for hours; I was willing to travel with him! Do you know the amount of trust that takes? Well, with me not that much since I'm quick to trust but...hell, he could have slit my throat while I slept," I complained. Shinta made a startled noise and shook her head, defending him again. "I'm not saying that he would have done that but that was the amount of trust I had been willing to put in him and it was obviously not worth it. One second we're buddies-from-birth and the next he's trying to exterminate or imprison me with his band of losers. Shit, I mean...the way he is here. It's like I'm with a different person," I concluded, huffing, throwing the naked potato to the pile and grabbing another. I glanced at Shinta heatedly only to see that see had paused in her cutting. "What?" I asked, hoping she wasn't going to draw out some fault I had made to land myself in my situation. The fact that I was lodging in the Main Yatsuma house, however, was not all bad. It realised the major purpose of collecting information, infiltrating me in one of the best places I could have gathered it without suspicion.

"Kushina-chan...maybe you should know something about the young-master. It may not be my place to say but...I think you need to understand..." she trailed off, putting her utensil and potato down and looking at me with her dark brown eyes. I raised my eyebrows, feeling a deep sense of curiosity at the sudden change of atmosphere and leaned forward with only the slightest trepidation. We were in a wood made room to the west of the house, tucked away behind the busy kitchen with three large buckets for our work accompanying us. We were therefore quite secluded and in no real danger of being overheard or interrupted.

"Well..." she hesitated, glanced away, shook her head. "Look. When Hiroshi was a kid I used to live here too, my parents being caretakers even then. He was...completely different. He was nothing like the other young lords. He didn't seem to be prepared to war at all. He cried easily, loved giving and receiving affection. His mother and him were close and she was a...a beautiful person." Her eyes shifted away again, this time into the caging realms of memory. "She was kind and feeling and...the complete opposite of Lord Yatsuma. But..." Her hand lifted to clench beside her chest. I frowned worriedly. "She died when Hiroshi-sama was 10. The shock itself was enough to stun and break him...but...oh, Lord Yatsuma is such a hard man. Had to be, I guess, with the war and the villagers and the...but still. Hiroshi had been so, so, so _open_ and suddenly his father tried to mould him into something hard and unyielding. H-he blamed Hiroshi for his mother's de-death. For being too weak to protect her when the attack came...for being like he was. So free, so vulnerable."

My mind was racing, trying to absorb the story that had so suddenly been sprung on me.

"Hiroshi was trapped within himself. Every time he let himself be like before, like his mother had wanted him to be, something- a beating or a scold or simply a look- would make him fall into place again, in that false mould he's created," she grabbed my hands suddenly, grasping them tightly in hers, her eyes shining with tears. She had seen that life, felt it, lived it beside the young master. This was why all the staff seemed to be so close to him despite his coldness. I tried to make sense of the man trying to fit a skin too tight for his soul and found it horrifying. To be anything else than I was, than I wanted to be. To pretend or to force myself...it would be the ultimate infringement on my free will.

"You have to understand him, Kushina. You're a good person. He is too. I don't know why he forced you to be here...maybe there is something about you that reminds him of how he used to be or...or...I don't know. But try to comprehend that he is simply trying to act according to the life placed before him.

I looked at Shinta's face, illuminated by the open windows, the edges of her eyes glowing and red as if she were about to start crying at any moment. I nodded shakily.

"I...I do understand. Thank you. For telling me," I said, smiling.

Was the trouble he was having with me just of reflection of a personal war?

"I knew you would," she smiled, turned back to her work. I sat there for a while, peeling blindly, thinking.

Maybe Hiroshi wasn't as bad as he seemed. Or as insane.

**OoO**

The next time I talked to Hiroshi it was in the same place as before, on the pine-laden floor overlooking the garden, this time under my deliberate intention in seeking him out.

It was getting late, the sun having drowned in the horizon a couple of hours before. The moon was brooding behind clouds so that the shadows consumed the rocks and plants in the garden except the edge closest to the house where the shadows flickered indecisively at the glow of lanterns. Hiroshi was overlooking the sight though I guessed that what he was watching was really some scene from the past or the imagination because the world at the time was too suffused in darkness to look at it too long without growing tired and bored.

"Good night, Hiroshi-sama. Taji asked me to serve you some camomile tea," I lied easily. I simply needed an excuse to confront him again and hoped that the intake of caffeine so late at night would not deter my mission. Hiroshi turned to look at me with a jerk of his head, staring as if he didn't know who I was before relaxing slightly and nodding, gazing away once again. I watched him as I sat down a few paces away from him. His skin and hair had a warm, orange glow from the hanged, captured fires but his posture was too upright to call him casual.

I poured and prepared the drink calmly.

"Do you want anything in it?" I asked, even though it was highly unusual to adorn tea there. He shook his head with a clear _No._ I watched his eyes flicker to the sugar and then back to the darkness. I ignored his denial and added two spoonfuls of sugar. He turned in time to catch me on the second one and stir the hot drink. I smiled at him innocently and frowned.

"I said I wanted nothing on mine." I shrugged at his tight words, smile widening into a grin, handing him the drink. I felt much more relaxed around him now that I knew about his past even though he had given no indication that his mannerism was going to change in any way. But it was as if the danger had been drained out of his character now that I could half-explain why I was there. I didn't have to attribute it to him being evil and unfair and greedy but to some trouble not even he could sort out. After I found out I had felt like a fool for taking him at such face value. I had the sense of having had something, like an instrument, hanging in my room and scorning it for being useless only to have someone point out what it was for and once I realised it became obvious. I watched Hiroshi and wondered how I could ever learn to play him so that he ceased being useless and scorned. But I wasn't great at picking people apart and trying to understand them. I liked confronting someone until their secrets were obvious and natural as if I had known them all my life.

Hiroshi took the tea wordlessly and continued looking at me. I grinned, flashing my teeth to let him know I wasn't angry at him anymore, for the imprisonment he had cursed me with.

"I used to have a friend with the same colour of eyes as you," I said suddenly. I didn't like thinking before I talked most of the time because sometimes thinking only hampered your ability to just _be_.

He seemed startled by my confession but his expression didn't change much.

"I...don't understand..." he said flatly, as if it were my fault and not one of his. I raised my eyebrows, figuring he wasn't talking about Takeo.

"You don't understand what?" There was a pause.

"You...The way you do things. Why won't you simply submit like everybody else? All the other staff...they just follow orders and are afraid of the soldiers. But when we captured you," he winced slightly, making a helpless gesture. I sat still under the unexpected speech. "...You kicked me in the face. You bring me tea when nobody has asked you to," I blushed slightly at being so obvious," you talk back and slander my fiancé in front of me." His expression seemed to be caught between frustrated and confused. I frowned.

"Hey, you asked what I thought of her," I defended. He sighed and I shook my head, my hair caught in a bun heavy on it. "Look. I'm just not used to it. You're the one that brought me here with no real reason. You could have made them let me go. Why the hell did you ask me to travel with you? You're making no sense. One second friendly, the second cold. What is this about? Is it about your mother? Because-" I stilled but did not jump as a hand was slammed against the floor, upsetting the teacup so that the hot liquid spilled across the smooth floor, away from us. I raised my eyes to his slowly and saw his angry face and shining eyes. The scar seemed to have elongated in some way, or simply attracted more attention on its own.

"Who the hell told you about her?" he demanded in a low hiss. I raised my eyebrows, not intimidated at all.

"Does it matter? I know, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just calm down. We're in the middle of the war, we've all lost something," I said. His eyes narrowed.

"You? What have _you_ lost?" he spat as if it would never compare to his pain. I felt my own anger bubble forward.

"I've lost _everything_ to this war," I growled, leaning forward menacingly. I thought of Whirlpool and then of Konoha and Minato and clenched my teeth. I'd lost both in different ways. But I wasn't going to give up face of that.

"But that doesn't mean I can't regain something back. That I'm just going to turn into something else and mope around wishing the dead back," I strained. His jaw clenched further, looking furious.

"You know nothing about me," he said in a low, waspish voice. I leaned back slightly.

"I know what I've seen and what people have told me and I was right. You're a coward. Instead of facing you loss and realising it wasn't your fault- simply for the fact that you didn't want it to happen- and move on you've crawled into that damn shell of yours which I blame for me being here. Why, because I fight back? The way you don't?" I snarled. I would push and shove until I got the reaction I desired.

His features twisted as if my words were sour and truthful in his mouth.

"What do you know? You're just another slave to this household," he replied coldly. I raised my eyebrows.

"So are you."

We looked at each other and then slowly I smiled, shaking the anger off, the resentment at having old skeletons being paraded about.

"So, really, what is it that you want from me?" I asked for the second time but he just stared.

"How can you smile?" he asked, making the expression drop slightly at his empty eyes.

"How can you just smile like that if what you say is true? If you've lost everything?"

I watched him closely.

"Someone who has lost everything has nothing to lose. Every time I lose something I make a point of gaining something in return. Be it a personal strength or a friend or...anything. No matter how much it hurts, every time something is lost you have to accept was is offered in its place. The reason I'm here is because of something I lost," _green eyes_, "and I guess it's because of something you lost as well." I let the silence finish my statement and studied Hiroshi's face once again. He looked like he had bitten off as much as he could chew so I collected the scattered things quietly and smiled up at him as he watched me with no attempt to stop me.

"Talk to you tomorrow, Hiroshi," I said and slid the paper door shut behind me.

OoO

As a ninja I had been trained to remember things in a neat, chronologically ordered way in order to produce efficient reports once a mission ended. I would lay in bed and go over all the valuable information I had gathered and realised it was going to go out-of-date if I stayed in the household too long. Army positions, numbers, tactics, weapons, target; it had all been revealed to me by the civilians who underestimated the power only one woman could hold with that information. In my mind I had an intact and growing file dedicated to Earth and if I could reach Jiraiya or Sasoku and convey the information I had I would make use of it at once.

But I suddenly found myself wanting to elongate my stay at the Yatsuma main-house. Since the day of the confrontation things between Hiroshi and me had morphed into something must more intimate and friendly. Every night when I wasn't appointed any chores I would join him beside the sand garden and we would talk, mirroring our first meeting. He painted me a picture of his mother that I longed to meet. Gentle and kind and good, the traces of herself she had left behind in her son were drawn slowly more and more to the light. The process was fascinating. I felt as if I had cracked some previously unblemished, re-enforced shell to reveal a creature made of soft, vulnerable layers. The change was so gradual and natural that I only really noticed it when Shinta pointed it out. We were dusting a large, seemingly unused room when she turned to me with a large smile and interrupted my babble by thanking me. I had stared at her with raised red eyebrows for I had been saying nothing of true importance. When I asked her what she meant her smile had sweetened.

"The young lord...you're helping him. I don't know how you do it, Kushina, we have tried to help him for years and suddenly in a few weeks with you here and...he seems so much happier. I'm glad Lord Yatsuma lives in the other part of the compound. He wouldn't approve."

I had smiled and shrugged, simply glad I could help. For some reason- maybe because I had been forced to meet many different people throughout my life- I had always found it easy to make friends. I was attracted to people easily, seeking out their individual differences like precious gems. I didn't even have to think about it; when I could relate to someone I got under their skin and showed them how.

And so for the next two weeks Hiroshi and I cemented a sort of friendship. He would sit in his expensive clothes and I would serve tea under fire and moonlight and I learned about another side of the war, another way of life. I discovered that he knew how to ride horses, how to manage a sword and the bow and arrow. I heard how his laugh sounded and how he ran his hand through his hair right after doing it. I learned about the things he used to do as a child, and his responsibilities like the meeting with the village nearby's elder, which was why he had been in casual clothes when I met him. As I become so accustomed to doing, I steered the conversation to the topic of war often and I learned about more menial things than I needed, like Hiroshi's own part and opinion on it. One fact which startled me was that he did not approve how his father and the other lords were handling the war. Somehow it gave me some hope.

I thought that lull of peace would last, until the night when reality decided to attack.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

_**A/N**_

Well, there we go. I only have one more chapter left before I have to start writing one-a-week to keep up . hopefully I'll be motivated enough to do so. :)

Thanks to my leta and reviewers, as always. Your support and inspiration really does mean a lot :D


	13. Chapter 12

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Twelve _

Something was wrong. I felt it like an image at the edge of my vision which disappears every time I try to pin it with my sight, flickering in and out of my senses.

It was a clear, splendid night that illuminated everything with such clean, sharp looking moonlight that the fires in the lanterns were dwindled to just a glow. The house and world around us had quieted down with the sounds of night time, a soft murmuring of water and creaks and crickets. Hiroshi and I were admiring the view of the silver infused garden, watching the breeze curl and wrap itself with sand, brushing the rocks and blades of grass with it. But I was unable to concentrate on the sight as I tried to peer into the darkness with my acute eyes, undoing the shadows and delving into the darkness, but I could see nothing out of the ordinary, even though my skin itched as if it were in danger. My moves were tense, watched, jerky because I couldn't find the source of my discomfort. I turned my eyes back to Hiroshi, wearing a green kimono that made his eyes glow as they watched me, as they seemed to do so much. I smiled at him, more comfortable in his presence than I would have been alone. I almost couldn't imagine not trusting him like I had the first few weeks of my stay. Our talks that descended into a strange intimacy were refreshing as they were strange; like confessing sins to an enemy.

"You ok, Kushina?" he asked, looking at me suspiciously. I nodded, laughing it off. I had, of course, revealed from him my past to keep concealed the fact that I was a ninja and to admit to the fact that I thought someone was watching us would be to arise suspicion of skill or insanity.

I looked into the darkness again and imagined eyes. I shivered slightly at the thought of it, as if a tremble of expectation.

The sound of rusting material drew my eyes to Hiroshi again and I found him taking his outer kimono off, much like our first night in the garden. I watched him lazily as he offered it in the same manner.

"Are you going to undress yourself every time I shudder?" I drawled, smirking slightly. His eyes narrowed slightly, though in no negative emotion. I scooted close from where I had been kneeling and grabbed the clothing, for the second time accepting something which I did not need from him. I tried to pull the green from his hand but he didn't let go so that we were joined by the cloth. We watched each other and suddenly the nervous tension inside me switched sources as an odd tension filled the air. Slowly, as if he wanted me to catch every moment, he pulled the cloth towards me so that I leaned forward. He lifted it, opening the folds and I let my hand fall down though I didn't move back. He reached around me and our eyes were locked, steady, as the haori came around my shoulders. I wasn't even sure what was going on, as if someone where trying to say something crucial but were talking in a foreign language.

He brought the edges together in front of me, holding them close with one hand, and I noticed how close we were the same instant I caught the smell of his scent; incense for his mother, the spice of his favourite tea and a pleasant, musky smell. I suddenly felt afraid. My heart was thundering because even though my hand had lifted to hold the haori closed his hand wasn't being removed, pressed slightly against my collarbones.

Then my head jolted as my mind was attacked by thoughts.

The first one warned me that his breath was on my lips as Hiroshi leaned in, capturing me in a sense of acute danger.

Then the warning bells went off as I felt whatever had been watching us flare or approach.

The third image was one of Minato, a strange scene when we had been young and he had been working on some assignment. I had entered his room with a pile of food and he looked up with tired eyes as I declared a break was in order. In the hyper-speed of my mind Minato's eyes looked towards me and then to the food, slowly, slowly, and then his eyes narrowed with happiness and he _smiled_.

Before I could sort any information out, judge which was the greatest danger or the greatest shock, Hiroshi's lips were upon mine, pressing, soft. Later I wondered why I didn't just push him away for I was trained to shake off surprise in time to defend myself in time, but I didn't. I felt his hand press closer above my beasts and the other move against the bare nape of my neck and I blinked slowly, letting the kiss go on for a second longer than I should have before I gently pulled away just enough so that out lips weren't touching but close enough for it to be intimate. His eyes opened and my field of vision bloomed in green.

"I'm in love with someone else," I said. He looked at me, doing nothing, before he tensed and as if untangling himself from me, gradually moved away.

"Of course," he said as if the fact was down to some extraneous variable out of his influence, like his bad luck or my lack of past. My insides felt like they were tightened, in pain with anxiety. My brain was full of questions, the biggest of them being why I hadn't noticed. The danger in the night seemed to have backed off and I turned my attention to Hiroshi, the eyes that couldn't meet me, his stone-still position, back straight and fist clenched as he whispered, _of course. _

Abruptly, startling me, he got up, making me look up, startled.

"I'm sorry. I will see you tomorrow," he ground out, still not looking at me and turned to leave. I frowned, something like guilt and disappointment swirling inside me.

"Running away again?" I called out softly. He stopped at my words and I watched his back, his haori still on mine.

"No. But I do not deserve to be here now. I am sorry..." and with large, determined steps and a clenched-in pose he stepped inside the house, shutting me out. I looked at the door he had disappeared behind, almost perplexed. Why had he kissed me? Didn't he have a fiancé? I looked downwards, frowning. Everything had just gotten a million times more complicated. A sense of restlessness fell over me like a timed explosive. I couldn't stay there much longer. As much as I valued Hiroshi as a friend, I had to escape the world he had put me in, even if that meant leaving him with a sense of betrayal because I did not know if the feelings he apparently had for me would be enough to understand that I was a ninja. A danger to his country and to the villages he would one day rule over.

The air whistled suddenly behind me, a soft tap on the wood as someone landed. I ducked and rolled over just in time, heart in my throat as my mind was yanked from one problem to the other. I lifted my hands to form a basic jutsu but stopped short, eyes widening at my attacker.

"Sasoku!?" I spluttered, looking at her lean form towering over me. Her long coat was still and heavy in the night air, purple hair pulled upwards in a pony-tail.

"Trust you, Kushina, to get captured by civilians," she said calmly. I gaped at her.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I stuttered and when I realised the implication of our position, scramble forwards and pulled her towards the darkness of the garden, yanking her behind one of the old, big trees at the end of the garden.

"Are you crazy!? If they catch you here my cover is blown! What were you thinking!?" I demanded. My head was hurting badly, a pulse at my temples at the suddenness of the night's events. The very last thing I had expected was the enemy I had sensed to be anything but that; a friend like Sasoku.

"It's nice to see you too," she drawled. I glared at her. It had been around two or three months since I had last seen her, though that didn't mean I _wasn't_ happy to see her. The confusion, however, directed towards her sudden appearance and attitude, was clouding the happiness and relief at seeing her which.

"You know I'm happy to see you, Sasoku. But why the hell did you show up like that? What if someone's seen you?" I hissed, looking towards the still and quiet house that lay like a slumbering wolf.

"Afraid Lord Charming is going to see me and kick you out?" she nearly snarled. I stared at her, bemused. To appear out of the blue and start speaking nonsense in such an agitated manner didn't seem like her at all.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sasoku? What's going on? Why are you here?" I demanded bluntly, squeezing her wrist as if to convey that my questions did not indicate I disapproved of her presence.

"I'm here because I thought you'd gotten yourself in a mess," she said coldly, indicating the household with a light inclination of her head. I stared at her. It was true that I had not handled myself in the most appropriate of manners throughout my stay in Earth Country, but to explain her reckless attitude to anger at my capture was unlikely.

"Is that why you're so mad?" I questioned, still gripping her arm. Her elegant expression did not change as she looked down at me.

"I'm not mad," she replied shortly. I snorted.

"Right, then why did you just barge into the Yatsuma grounds instead of sending me a message or leaving me a clue? Or are you just that careless," I growled, both of us knowing that normally she was precise and meticulous with strategy. Her eyes narrowed further.

"Obviously I needn't have bother showing up at all. It seems you've made yourself quite at home with the enemy. Seems Hireki was right, you _are_ a traitor."

Everything around me froze.

I could barely breathe as the world seemed to shrink to form those four last words. My hand unclasped from her skin, retracting as if she had become toxic to my touch. My head was spinning, the last hour containing too many events for me to follow, cluttering my mind with impossible, but still those words, wrung in barbed wire, sliced at my thoughts. I felt as if Sasoku had befriended the monsters inside me, made allays with my demons until their words were her words and her words theirs. I stared at her. She was a stranger. She was a creature of my masochist doing. That couldn't be my friend Sasoku calling me a traitor. But her face was pale and her lips pursed, eyes expressionless as they returned my stare.

Images of Takeo were once again summoned to the battlefield of my mind. Pictures of his death, of all the other casualties and victims of the war, dying like animals in the mud.

"Don't move," I hissed. Angry, hurt, angry, my feelings were a pendulum ticking over her accusations. I slipped soundlessly into the house, the kitchen, the courtyard, the pealing room. Across the dust, under the floorboards, was a roll of stolen and self-written papers on Earth Country. The darkness immersed me in its secrets as I settled the floorboards back in place and appeared in the garden once again, not a sound to my name. My title of a ninja wasn't meaningless yet.

"Here," I whispered as I slipped around the tree, shoving the rolled parchments into her chest. She looked down at them, at me, at them. My eyes didn't stop glaring into her face. She took them silently, the question in her gaze.

"It's information. Get it to Konoha," I snapped. "If you can trust a _traitor_, that is" I snarled, all the hate I held for that world spilling over the syllables. My hands clenched and for a second I contemplated punching her face in, once swift, gratifying moment that would make everything worse. But then her hand reached out and she said,

"I'm sorry."

I stared at her.

"You're sorry," I repeated blandly. "You call me a traitor after...all I have told you. And you're...sorry?" I asked. Her fair features scrunched up slightly at my rejection, but I had not simple intention to roll over and let myself be stepped on by a simple apology. It didn't prove anything.

"I didn't mean it. What more do you want me to say, Kushina?" she whispered back. I laughed bitterly.

"Say? How about a fucking explanation of why the first thing that comes into your mind when you see I'm in the main Yatsuma house is that I'm betraying Whirlpool and Konoha. Come on, Sasoku, please _explain_ to me why the holy fuck you just accused me, in the middle of a shitting war, of being a traitor. Come on, enlighten me," I snarled lowly, shaking with fury. It was the lowest blow she could have dealt me. I would have never imagined that out of all the people, Sasoku would be the one to lack faith in me.

For a few seconds there was silence, consuming the space between us to leave a gaping hole. As it stretched I turned to go back inside but her hand caught the material of my Kimono. I halted.

"Well?"

"You wouldn't understand," she replied. I laughed, snorting incredulously, disappointment and hurt shifting within my lungs, making it hard to breathe. I tried to pull away again but her hand held me in place. I turned to look at her.

"You...misunderstood I wasn't talking about the war. I wasn't talking about you staying in this house, or befriending the people, really. That's just one of the things that makes you...you," she confessed. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Then what the hell are you talking about, Sasoku?" I enquired, puzzled. Slowly she pushed me backwards until my back hit the rough and uneven trunk of the tree. Confused, I let her.

"I was talking about that kiss," she said lowly. I scowled at the mention of it. It was none of her business.

"What does that have to do with anything? I didn't start the kiss. I ended it. I don't love him. I haven't done anything wrong. Minato would forgive me," I declared, sure of my statements. Her long body was a pace away from mine and as I finished talking a smile curled her lips until it formed a humourless, bitter laugh as she leaned towards me, resting her arm above me on the trunk and then her head on that.

"You are so..." she trailed off, another laugh escaping her. I stared, craning my neck upwards, worried.

"So what? What are you talking about?" I demanded. Sasoku looked down.

"So...oblivious," she finished. I glared at her.

"I'm not _oblivious. _Oblivious to what?" I contradicted myself. Sasoku's lips curled in a smile

"Maybe it's time a remedied that," was all she said before she did the most unexpected thing I could have tried to foresee.

She leaned down and kissed me.

Briefly I wondered if I had a sign that said _Molest Me_ on my back.

My whole body stopped moving. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. Sasoku the woman was kissing me. Her lips were soft against mine as she tilted her head. I could feel the shape of her smirk as her tongue licked at the seam of my lips. Her hand was at my waist, the other beside my face, fingernails trailing across the scalp until it reached the bun my hair was formed in. And still I lay still, doing nothing, thinking nothing. She deftly cut the elastic band that held my hair up and it stayed clumped together until she racked her finger though it, lips still nipping at my inactive ones which suddenly opened as the sensation of her stroking my hair loose. But instead of taking advantage of the opening she pulled back to burn me with her dark purple eyes.

"Sa...Sa..." I couldn't even talk. My brain had imploded.

"Don't say anything. Just...don't say anything. Just, just let me do this. Don't say anything," she whispered, almost desperately. I had never seen her like this. I had been with her week in week out for four years and I had seen her crushed and happy and sad and angry but never like _this_.

I wouldn't really be able to explain why I let it happen. Because I loved her. Because she made me feel something too, with her fingers, with her tongue and lips, with the palms of her hands. Somehow, inexplicably, it just didn't feel wrong. I knew, deep down, that nothing could come off it. That maybe I was leading her on, hurting her more than a simple rejection, but Sasoku was an adult who could make her own decisions. She knew I loved Minato, and she chose to indulge herself anyway. So I let her too.

I surprised her as, when her lips came back, I wound my arms around her neck, pushing her closer as my mouth opened willingly, touching tongues, pressing, as her touches became fiery, slow and torturous. I undid her hair as well, pulling at it slightly before I slipped the fingers of one of my hands through it. It felt strange to have a breasted chest against mine but I went with it, lucky that I knew more-or-less the placed to touch, being female myself. I moaned lowly as her palm pressed expertly against one of my breasts and at her smirk I disengaged from the kiss and moved down her face, to her neck, which she let me access easily, my teeth and tongue exploring the skin. She discovered a Kimono had easy access as she undid it easily, slipping hands in to trail over skin softly, flicking and pressing and scratching softly. I grinned as I made her moan with my own ministrations, shushing her softly, hypocritically as my own noises escaped my throat.

I have no idea how long I was there, body-to-body, pressed against the tree and Sasoku, but I stopped it in time to marginally control ourselves so that it didn't turn into something we would have to clean up after.

We were panting as we untangled ourselves, correcting each other's clothes, still pressed slightly together. I smiled up at her as her intense stare glowed over me.

"I...I'm sorry but I have to say it. You, you know that this is-"

"I know. It's ok," she cut me off.

"I...love him," I finished lamely. Her smile was bittersweet. She leaned down, her cheek brushing against mine, lips softly over my ear, but she said nothing.

I understood.

Slowly, she pulled away.

"I'll get these to him, then," she said, indicating the heavy roll of parchment. I nodded. "When will you leave?" She asked. I shrugged.

"In a week." It just came out, decided. She nodded.

"Good luck then, Kushina. I'll see you soon. Try not to get into any more problems, will you?" She smirked. I rolled my eyes, still feeling the aftermath of our attraction as heat under my skin.

"Whatever. Be safe," I ordered. Her smirk widened.

"Sure," she drawled and with one last flicker of her eyes she was gone. I took a deep breath. For a moment I looked up to the unreachable, yellow stars before turning towards the house once again.

Inside, a sword was waiting for me.

I stepped into my small room quietly, opening my door with a mind almost blank with information to take in. Whisper of her fingers on me was still brushing against my skin, a secret. I didn't take heed of my environment, simply walked into the darkness drenched room and suddenly found myself with a cold blade against my jugular.

For what seemed like the millionth time that night, I froze, my muscles constricting, breath stopping. My eyes slid to the side and I saw that it was Hiroshi, eyes so wide I was afraid the forest in them would make me lose myself. His face was colder than I had ever seen, expression so loathsome I wondered how it didn't erode his features.

"Close the door," he ordered. Slowly, as to not induce trouble, I did as he asked with my foot. A click and we were apart from the world. Silence suffused us again.

"Hiroshi..." I started, not quite sure what to say. I didn't know how much he had seen, but I needn't have worried for he cut me off immediately.

"Don't. Don't even try to...to..." his eyes bore into mine as the blade pressed slightly. I shallowed my breathing. An accident could end my life in an instant, but I convinced myself that wasn't going to happen. Hiroshi, despite his royal training, did not have the speed or skill required to maim me, even if his sword was already again my neck. By the tensing or slight movement of his wrist and arms muscles I would know if he was about to attack and would avoid it in an instant. I didn't move, however, giving opportunity to explain himself, or ask what he wanted to ask, for he may have called back-up.

"You used me," he stated, a cold and hard fact. I opened my mouth at his tone, his words, but shut it again as he went on. "You're a Konoha ninja, aren't you? I heard you talking to your little..._friend_." I didn't miss the pause, the strain on the last word. My jaw clenched. "You...you are here to betray us. Me and my people," he accused angrily, voice low and scorching. I stared at him, moving my head slowly to avoid getting cut. He didn't move and I saw his grip was fierce on the hilt. The only source of light was the moon but my keen eyes spotted the blotched red and white skin caused by the pressure of his hold.

"I'm not from Konoha. And neither is she," I responded in an attempt to calm him down. His face twisted further into a snarl.

"Don't _lie to me_," he hissed.

"I'm not lying. Drop you're weapon before you do something stupid, Hiroshi, and we'll talk," I said calmly. There was no point in hiding anything, now. He would assume I was a Konoha nin anyway.

"I don't take order from a traitor," he said and I flinched, almost beheading myself in the process as I was hit with the word for a second time that night. But I understood it now, and he was partly right. We had spent days together like friends. He had opened up to me, had told me his fears about his father and the way Earth Country was controlled. He has trusted me and it had turned out I was only there to harm their status and country. It hit me how ridiculous I had been, how much of a hypocrite. I was become angry with him because of his 'mood swings', his apparent betrayal of my trust, but there I was, a Whirlpool ninja trying to get revenge.

"I am not a traitor," I growled. "I'm doing what I have to do. This war isn't going to end until Rock give up this stupid obsession with Fire Country. You know this. You told me yourself. I'm helping dissolve this," I stated, convinced. I was sure that once Minato was made Hokage, nothing would stop the Konoha ninja as they tried to protect their land.

"By killing my people? You pathetic excuse for I-" he grunted in pain as, before he could blink, I had pressed the pressure point on his wrist, making his hand convulse and drop the sword. I caught it deftly, angry at his insinuations.

"That is exactly what I am not doing," I hissed, pointing the sword down so I wasn't threatening him. He looked from the weapon to my face and still did not seem frightened. I didn't know whether to attribute it to bravery or a surplus of the trust he had obviously felt for me when he had kissed me. "You think I couldn't have gone from household to household, from room to room, from neck to neck, and killed all you Lords and lord's sun until panic gripped Earth? Come on. Don't accuse me of something I have so clearly avoided."

His pose was straight and tense as he watched me.

"You're saying that the information you have given to the enemy will not kill the Earth Country people?" he snorted. My expression was kept impassive.

"Not the civilians," I retorted. He scowled and I frowned. "What do you expect? Your country has started a war. Your country killed my best friend," I accused bitterly and the last sentence seemed to strike him for his bitter expression dropped marginally. The room was cold and silent around us. I sighed, leaning on one leg casually.

"I'm sorry, Hiroshi, that I have betrayed your trust this way. You're right, I'm a ninja, but not from Konoha, though my allies are there. I'm a Whirlpool shinobi. Your people destroyed my country, and though my motive isn't exactly revenge, you are, technically, my enemy. Though that's not going to stop me for thinking of you as a friend. I really do appreciate everything you have done for me..." I confessed. He looked at me and surprised me by asking,

"Is the woman you love from there?" I stared at him blankly for a second before understanding his meaning. I laughed a little, sighing.

"You mean who you saw me...kiss?" I asked. His expression hardened but he didn't say anything, nodding. I bit my tongue, wondering how to explain it.

"She's not...the person I'm in love with. She's a friend," I attempted. Hiroshi raised his eyebrows.

"A friend?" he said blankly. I sighed again.

"Yeah...what you saw... I don't know how to explain that. It was just...God what a mess..." I ran a hand through my hair, clutching the sword in reflex. Hiroshi was frowning.

"So he is it that you love, then?" he asked. I tilted my head, wondering why he wanted to know _who_ exactly it was so badly, but after what I had done I conceded.

"A man from Konoha in Fire country," I said vaguely.

"Is he a powerful ninja?" he questioned. I frowned slightly but then smiled with a sigh.

"Probably the next Hokage," I said truthfully, remembering briefly our last encounter.

"I see. Then...he will be able to protect you," he said and I snapped my eyes into focus, startled. I laughed.

"I don't need protecting, I can manage on my own," I replied, looking at him slyly, but his expression remained serious.

"Then I guess there is nothing I can do to stop you." I looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and everything was so still that for a moment the time seemed to halt before I breathed in again.

"I will not call the guards, but you must leave. Despite you being a Konoha spy," I did not protest at the definition, "I...understand your motives. And maybe when my father is over rules, Konoha will have an ally in me," he said and my eyes grew wide. What he had said was a large and great promise. I threw the sword backwards, letting it clatter noisily in the silence and threw myself in hug at Hiroshi. He grunted, protested for a second before I gripped him closer, trusting my back to his hands.

"Thank you, Hiroshi," I said as he finally hugged me back. We pulled away slowly and the green of his eyes, lacing past and present together to tie the know of finality, was the last thing I saw before the seals were formed and I teleported away.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_**A/N**_

You guys, I love you. Everybody who reviewed, I swear you saved me. I love this story again and it feels **so good**. I'm sorry it's a little late, I usually post it before brownies (not the food, its like girls scouts, since I'm twelve. Kidding! I help out.) but forgot cause I was watching the Oscars (having taped it). Don't tell me who wins the big ones! I haven't watched it all yet. But if Juno doesn't win something I'm screaming. Tell me the writer was nominated for best script, it was wonderful.

Anywho, Yay Konoha next chapter and it's one I've been craving to write for months so whoo! I think I'm gonna let Kushina chill there for a while there. After this Minato is gonna show up a lot more often.

And I hear a woot woot?

Well, thanks to everybody again. Please support and inspire me by reviewing, it really does mean a lot. :D

Have a nice week everyone!!

PS. Best lines ever:

**Su-Chin:** No thanks I'm off pills

**Juno:** That's a wise choice because I knew this girl who like had this crazy freak out because she took too many behavioural meds at once and she like ripped off her clothes, and dove into the fountain at Ridgedale Mall and was like, "Blah, I am a KRAKEN from the SEA!"   
**Su-Chin** ...I heard that was you.

Dudes, you wanna show me some love in quote form, please do. Funny or interesting quotes are my suga.

Wah-pow!


	14. Chapter 13

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Thirteen _

Konoha looked the same as the last time I had been there. In my capricious world of mobility, it seemed to be the sole constant in my life. Every town I re-encountered broken, every piece of landscape ruined by a battle, was absent in the fighting village of Konoha.

"I'm not so sure you should still be giving house-keys so easily, old man, especially since Minato is not on a mission," I snorted as I stepped out of the Hokage's room, tucking the keys under my cloak nevertheless. He looked at me with his typically exasperated eyes and said,

"It was fine last time, was it not, Kushina?" I could have sworn he had a perverted smile on his face. "And I'm not old yet you disrespecting child!"

I rolled my eyes, and lifted one hand in the air with a _later_, walking away from the open and guarded door, like a symbol of the oxymoron of war. As I stepped outside the building via normal means I combated the butterflies in my stomach feebly. I was a mature woman. A ninja. There was no need for the anxiety and almost fear I always held when newly arriving to Konoha, but it was recurrently present. The Hokage had mentioned Minato was not off in some mission but staying in Konoha. His tone and expression had suggested it was not unusual and though I had been suspicious of the reason, a change in subject to more relevant matters had distracted me from asking for reasons. Now I would have to figure out where Minato was and why he was in the village instead of the thick of the war. Not that I was complaining, the mere thought of seeing him was making me frustratingly excited. Images of his face followed by a clenching of my stomach were keeping me dazed.

"What a surprise, brat. I didn't expect to see you here," a voice pulled me from my daydreams and I stopped walking, turning to see Jiraiya looking at me in amusement as if my presence was a circus on its own. I mocked a frown but my grin seeped through.

"Jiraiya you pervert, I thought you were off travelling. Missing Konoha women so much?" I snorted, winking mischievously and walking towards him.

"Maybe. They're much better than the moody people in water countries," he retorted and I glared at him unseriously. Without further word, however, I jumped towards him and wrapped my self around him in a violent hug.

"Jiraiyaaaaa, how have u been?" I whined loudly, mostly to annoy him. For a few seconds we struggled as I clung to him whilst he tried to unlatch me. I finally let him go as he muttered on about annoying redheads and something about Minato's bad taste.

"I see you haven't changed," he said, as if it were an insult. I caught him staring at a passing woman's ass and hit him over the head.

"You haven't changed either!" I accused. He winced, rubbing his head.

''Why are you always such a violent brat?" he complained, looking at me above his red scars. Was it me, I thought sadly, or were they longer than the last time I had seen them?

He started walking off and I followed him, babbling nonsensically in his ear whilst he sighed, but I could see the affection in the smile that peeked from the edge of his lips.

"So have you seen Minato yet?" he suddenly inquired as we passed the Yamanaka flower shop, its scent sweetening the air that brushed against our noses. I tensed, blushing slightly for no reason.

"N-no! I've had other things to do..." I muttered, pulling nervously at the hooded cape that was clicked around my neck . I had taken to wearing it for disguise again after being abroad so long.

"Well, he's in training grounds four with his kids if you're looking for him," he said casually. My whole body froze until I had to stop walking.

"K-kids?" I choked. My mind was numb. Jiraiya's steps paused and he looked over his shoulder at me with a blank expression.

"Didn't anybody tell you? He has three."

I suddenly felt very dizzy, even though most of me didn't believe Jiraiya.

"You're joking. You're lying," I insisted. He shrugged.

"Nope. Go see for yourself," he brushed off, walking forwards as people passed us, looking curiously at the foreign woman, turned to cold, cold stone in the middle of the road.

Minato having kids? It was completely possible. It was even possible that when I had spent those days with him almost a year ago he hadn't been free. He could be there now, training and babysitting, maybe even with his woman. That would explain why he wasn't going on long missions.

But no. That didn't sound like Minato at all, I frowned. Simply because it was possible in theory did not mean it was probable enough in real life.

And yet my heart was pounding as I ran to the training grounds, not even bothering to say goodbye to Jiraiya. I travelled through thin air; over rooftops and trees to avoid friendly faces. My mind was in such a buzzing state I wouldn't be able to concentrate on them. All I could think about was Minato, and the kisses I had shared with Hiroshi and Sasoku that had meant nothing but a show that beyond physical pleasure, Minato was the person I would love despite anything, mirroring the unchanging nature of Konoha.

I charged my chakra and doubled it over, cancelling its presence. My cloak went up, hiding my vibrant hair and shadowing my face. I kept it in place with air chakra as I ran forwards, leaping with agility and soundlessly dropping onto a branch. The training ground I was approaching was a relatively hard-training environment. It simulated a mud pond, with uneven areas of hard ground and pure water. I crouched low, listening to the noises. There seem to be a sparring going on, and I frowned in confusion. Why would there be three children, or more specifically babies, in an occupied training ground? Had my memory fooled me and I had arrived at the wrong place?

I let myself slip from the branch, catching it with one hand and swinging myself forwards so that I hid behind the shadows of another tree, closer to the grounds so that I could watch what was going on. For a second I looked away. If I saw Minato fighting with some woman, his three blond, blue-eyed children watching...what would I do? My stomach turning into itself, my chest tightening. Would I be able to go back to Konoha? How pathetic was it that I would give up Konoha for a man? I clenched my eyes shut. I had Whirlpool, but that wasn't a ninja-containing country anymore. What would I fight for? But how could I go to Konoha and not see Minato? Or if I did see him, watch him happily with another person. It would kill me.

It was in that moment that I realised that I would only feel at home with Minato. It didn't come to me as a stunningly romantic declaration, but as a bitter reality of having nowhere to belong to but the people that loved me, and Minato was the person I had chosen to die for in return. It wasn't a clichéd view of love, the way people love and then leave, or the way people say love conquers all. Minato was my home, but he didn't complete me. I was still unwilling to give up everything for him. My vengeance, my desperation, my indecision.

And yet despite all that, Minato had been a constant in my life; in my thoughts, because I always imagined that if I survived this war, he would be at the end of the line. I would finally manage to be happy.

What would be there, what would I look forward to, if Minato was no longer at my reach?

I would just have to see. Steeling my heart, I opened my eyes...and almost fell off my tree.

That conniving pervert.

Jiraiya had tricked me. When he had said kids, he had meant me to imagine the worst with my reckless nature. But as I peeked at the man I most admired I saw it was not his children, but his ninja team. Minato had been made captain of three Genin.

I was almost shaking with relief. I smiled, holding back nervous laughter.

Thank God.

There were three children of probably twelve years of age accompanying Minato on the grounds. My heart leaped when I saw that who was undoubtedly Kakashi was one of them. The same hair and eyes as his father when he had been young, even though, strangely, half his face was half-covered up to the nose with a black cloth. He was fighting against a childish looking boy with dark brown hair and large, green-rimmed, orange tinted goggles over his eyes. He was obviously on the losing side, struggling to defend himself against the stoic looking Kakashi who was ruthless in his attack. I wondered what having lost his father to suicide, a declaration that his son was not enough to live for, had done to the poor kid.

On the other side of the clearing was Minato with a short girl with markings on her face. I focused my acute eyes on Minato, teaching the girl something, probably about chakra control, which was his speciality. My expression softened. I was sure the three of them adored Minato. He would be a great leader and fair teacher. He would do anything possible to protect them. With nostalgic pain I thought about how this could have been me, training genin to fight in the war alongside Minato instead of almost the almost betrayal that was my solitary path.

"YaaaaAAAaaah!" I started out of my musings and Minato-spying to look towards the source of the scream.

One of the kids was flying towards me.

It was goggle-kid, having probably been thrown by Kakashi my way. I could have jumped away in time, even having been distracted by watching Minato and his pretty gold hair...

Out of protective instinctive, however, I jumped forwards, grabbing the boy in an instant before he smashed his head against a tree. He yelped in surprise and I heard Kakashi's gasp as I leaped out of the shrubbery, holding the stunned boy in my arms. Just in case he panicked and did something stupid, I locked his arms behind, making sure his legs were trapped and his fingers together so he couldn't reach for weapons or do jutsus. At once, Kakashi was in a fighting position, calling for Minato. I snorted inside my hood, about to let the boy go and remove my cape when a thought hit me. If I kept up pretences and made myself the enemy, I would see how it was to fight Minato without doubting if he was holding back because of who I was. He wouldn't kill me; I was more precious alive, for he would want to know who I was and why I had infiltrated in Konoha, or targeted Minato. The idea was definitely stupid and reckless, but at the time that seemed to be a fair exchange for a satiated curiosity, despite the chance of potential wounds. I was too confident in my abilities and pride to let that sway my choice, however.

I was careful to throw shadows over my face by keeping the cloth in place with artificial wind as Minato's narrowed blue eyes turned towards me, the image of a stranger holding the now shouting and struggling kid in its arms. When Minato turned to me and didn't move a muscle, simply stared.

I knew exactly what he was doing. I turned, the kid held up like a shield as one of Minato's clones attacked me from behind. A slightly risky move, since I did not want to harm any of them, but I trusted Minato to hold back in time.

"Let me go! Let me go, let me**-oooooof!"** the boy shouted loudly as I let him go. The Minato who had been holding a kunai let it drop and caught him, as I avoiding Kakashi's attack. _What a bother, _I thought as I kicked the silver-haired boy in the stomach, making him slide away from me. I didn't want to be fighting three brats instead of Minato. As skilled, for his age, as Kakashi seemed to be, he was in no way or form a match for me.

"Who are you?" Minato asked as his clone jumped away with the still shouting boy in his arms.

"Not a friend. Why don't you tell your kids to watch, Minato? I will fight you fairly, but they'll get hurt if they get underfoot," I lied with a deepened voice, looking at Minato's tense position, still far away from mine.

"Who the hell are you ?! What do you want with Sensei?!" the goggle boy screamed at me. I turned to him and smirked. The kid had guts. No sense, but at least he was brave.

"That is none of your business, brat," I replied mockingly. Kakashi was watching me silently from where he had landed, eyes calculating.

"That's enough, Obito. You three, to the other side of the field," Minato said suddenly, still staring at me. I was glad I wasn't an actual enemy for those eyes alone seemed to be able of defeating me.

"But Sensei-!"

"No, Rin. To the other side. This is not a suggestion, it's an order."

I watched Minato, amazed. He was so...in control. So cold, so ready to kill.

There was a moment of stillness and then the three of them were on the other side of the marsh land, and Minato was lunging towards me with his incredible speed.

Perfect.

It had been exactly what I expected, and being around him so long in our early teenage years and experienced in his fighting style had allowed me to create a counter for his velocity in my absence.

He e shot towards me by linking two points of chakra from source to destination and then pulling like a magnet. In that instant I sensed that link and intercepted its course with my wind. With my own currents of air in place I focused not only on slowing him down but predicting when he was going to stop.

And despite this manoeuvre, his speed was still incredible. I feared what would happen if he had something to propel and contain his chakra like the kunai he used when he showed me his skill all those months ago. I stepped away in a split second, grabbing the back of his shirt and propelling him forwards, away from his planned path. I heard the gasps of the children as, with a blade made of air, I sliced at his arm. He managed to twist spectacularly away from me and yet as he shot forwards a string of red was left behind.

I had drawn blood in my first attack.

If I hadn't been under cover I would have jumped up and boogie a victory dance. I had done first damage to Minato! The future Hokage! I grinned.

As it was, I settled for casually dispelling the blade and snorting, "that was quite pathetic, Namikaze."

His face was neither surprised nor angry at my attack, just a blank slate of detachment. He was a jounin protecting his village and I was the enemy; there was no room for playing.

Without wasting a further second he flickered towards me again, across the mud so that it didn't even splash. I had to fight to keep him away from me, wind resistance after wind resistance, trying to get a hit in but only being able to block or cause him to defend instead. I couldn't even use my usual manoeuvres for they would disclose my identity.

"Fuck this," I grunted and I pulled the muddy water underneath us upwards, creating more in a roar of waves. I let myself be submerged, protecting myself with spinning air so that I could breathe. I was sure Minato would have jumped away in time to not be swallowed by the artificial tsunami. I looked upwards, deciphering where he was standing by the shadows and pressured points in the water. I had been careful not to let the water go near the children and I was sure they were all wondering where I was.

I created a water clone and, linking arms and spinning, I threw her upwards to where Minato was in a cheap attempt to attack him under water. My clone grabbed his ankle but at that instant he flickered into the air, pulling it with him and as it exploded I knew that he had driven a kunai in her thigh, arm and cut off four of the fingers in one hand to try and disable any attack.

Yikes. Maybe I shouldn't have used the kid as a shield. Despite his calm demeanour I could tell he was boiling inside.

But another of my clones was already up, and as he cut one of me up the other kicking, and another punching, and another slicing, distracting him from my main jutsu. I was pushing the rocks from the bottom of the lake up, pushed by the water and carving them into sharpness with hyper-erosion. In an instant they flew out of the water, aiming for his vital points. He twisted out of the way just in time but another clone was being made to grab him. With a kick to the head it was dispelled and Minato skidded over water to a stop.

And all the time I was in a spinning bubble under water, feeding myself oxygen from the liquid around me.

I made another clone, and another, and another. He was on my territory, faster than lightning we moved, when he flickered somewhere I was right there beside him, another one of my clones destroyed in an explosion of water.

It was all just a massive waste of chakra. But that was the point.I had way more than him. I could keep popping clones up for hours if pressured. However, I was in the fight not to win, exactly, (though that would be a bonus) but to keep things interesting.

At the fasted speed I could manage I went through the seals needed for my new attack.

I let my clones drop in a false sense of security.

Suddenly, things around, over and below Minato lifted, trembling in anticipation. With my air chakra I sharpened every stone, covered ever leaf, every shard of wood. It was nature's army turned deadly by the intention of humans.

"Holy shit!" Obito shouted. There was a shout from the girl and then just a whistled shrieking of air as the objects literally flew in one massive, circular wave at Minato. The shout of imbedded ground, mud and water, a sound like crapping and roaring, rung across the clearing.

And then silence fell over us, a thick and deadly blanket. I gasped in my bubble, my chakra levels having gone down stupendously with the attack, and yet not too close to zero.

"M-Minato-sensei?" a girl's voice called out. In my space of air I rolled my eyes. No need to be so dramatic. As deadly as the attack was, it hadn't been full force. Minato would have never fallen to that. That was the good thing about fighting good friends; you didn't underestimate. You knew them too well.

"I know where you are. _Rivulet of lightning no Jutsu!"_ Minato said suddenly. He had gone underground; the perfect, defence. My clones only had time to notice his words and the fact that he was covered in cuts and then, not even the thought, but the sense that _I was going to be fried alive_. He was going to charge the water in the pond and flay my skin off, bubble my lungs, magnetise my teeth so that I would give information I didn't have just so the pain would stop.

Oh, shit.

I dredged up chakra like I never had before, a wall of wind in one split second that not only protected me but also threw me forwards out of range.

It was like a thunder storm in a bottle. A blinding, deafening electricity that travelled through the very veins of the air, destroying everything. My nerves rang in pain by the mere nearness of it. I cried out slightly, spinning the wind to keep me protected.

_Breathe_ I told myself. _Breathe. _

Once again the noise died down leaving an empty, after-storm feeling.

On the top of a tree not far away from the three children I panted, an odd ache in my muscles that told of a close-call. I blinked several times, trying to dispel the spots in my vision from Minato's flash, trying to stare at his figure standing in the middle of the pond-water that was still shaking from the impact.

"Holy shit. Are you crazy?" I asked, not being able to contain myself. My skin felt raw and sensitive. I couldn't even image the pain I would have gone through if I had suffered the brunt of the attack.

"You have goggles, you idiot," I heard Kakashi say from below. I tried to look past my wavering vision of damaged retinas to where Obito had buried his face in Kakashi's arm to protect himself from the flashes. I blinked again. If I could grab the boy's goggles quickly I would be able to protect myself from the intense light of his attacks. Without thinking it twice I threw myself towards them, having chosen to flee to their side knowing that Minato would have made sure to protect them from the attack.

I appeared on the surface of the water in an instant, distracting Minato with three clones, but I should have known that when faced with protecting somebody, that would never deter him. I should have known not to go near the genin even if I had no intention to harm them.

His attack was terrifying. I sensed it as a sudden eruption of pure chakra. In the space of a second Minato had crashed through my clones as he propelled himself towards me, robes shooting back with the speed. His right hand was pulled back and revolving in its palm was a sphere as blue as his eyes, made out of swirling, compressed chakra.

If that hit me I would be minced meat before I could say stop.

I shouted in surprise, creating a vortex of wind and water that pulled me down away from the deadly speed. I wasn't quick enough, however, and the biting chakra gnawed at my left bicep, not deep enough to reach the bone or do any permanent damage but stripping me of enough skin and muscle to draw a pained scream from me. I went underwater and appeared a few feet away as Minato's attack was dispelled. He was panting heavily, obviously almost out of chakra. When I had initiated the fight thoughtlessly I had obviously not judged the sanity and intelligence of my actions very far, I thought as I fell to my knees on the water, clutching my arm.

"I think it is time for you to give up and tell me who you are and what you want," Minato said coldly. I smirked inside my hood. Half an hour ago I was fearing his abandonment and then I had gone and done something to incite it. I looked into his angry face and sighed. _What done is done,_ I thought, and said,

"I've never been big on giving up but I guess you're right this one time, Minato."

Stumbling, I raised to my feet. I dispelled the chakra from around my hood and with a flick of my head backwards, as to not let go of my arm, the cloth fell back, revealing grey eyes and red hair.

His whole self froze.

We stared at each other as Obito said _what's going on, why isn't Sensei attacking? Who is she who is she?_

At first his face was shocked; widened eyes, mouth opening as if in the beginning of a word but halted in that form, no noise coming forth. Then the expression seeped out and blankness took over. I knew I was in trouble then.

"Ok, don't get too mad. It was just like a sparring session," I tried with a smile.

"Don't get too mad..." he repeated emotionlessly. I winced.

"Well, there's no point in it. No one got hurt, right?" I said. His eyes slipped to my arm where blood was tricking under my fingers. I grimaced again. "Well, you know, not seriously hurt."

But Minato didn't seem to be taking any of my words in.

"You made me use the rasengan against you," he said, and now the blankness was being replaced with anger. It reminded me of the day I had protected Takeo against the lightning attack all those years ago with my body and Minato had reprimanded me. On that occasion, however, I had been able to win the argument.

"I'm guessing rasengan was the spinning chakra thing. Scary," I tried to joke, but he didn't appear to be in any mood for being amused. I sighed.

"Right, ok, I'm sorry." I looked down at my soaked and muddy form and saw there was nothing clean on me I could use to bandage my arm. "You mind helping me here? My knees are a little weak," I conceded, but only because it was Minato. Despite his obvious anger with me he didn't even hesitate in flickering to my side and putting an arm around my waist to keep me up. I leaned into him, making sure my injured arm stayed limp.

"What the hell!" Obito said suddenly. With a start we both turned to look at the three onlookers. Kakashi was staring coldly at us whilst the other two seemed more confused than anything else.

"Come here you three, it's ok, she's not an enemy," Minato said without looking at me. I wasn't exactly regretting the fight; it had been exciting and exhilarating. The adrenalin produced by it was still making my nerves fuzz and tingle. But I wouldn't call it my best idea by far. I hated the expression on his face.

Disappointment.

I had expected our reunion to be a lot more...well, physical in another sense of the word.

"Not an enemy! You two almost killed each other!" Obito accused, pointing at us. Pressed against me as he was I felt Minato tense at the reminder and I glared at the boy.

"Hey, Goggles, how bout you keep your observations to yourself?" I drawled. The three of them casually walked towards us as the boy I had insulted frowned.

"Why should I listen to you, Lady! You just attacked Sensei and got your ass kicked in the process!" he shouted at me. Rin shot him a look but kept quiet as I frowned at him but Minato cut in before I could say anything.

"Calm down, Obito. And Kushina wasn't using her full power in her attacks, nor did I disable her. Don't assume victory at the sight of blood," he said calmly but kindly. Obito grumbled under his breath as Rin lifted her shirt sleeve and pulled away a package of insulated bandages strapped to her bicep. Obviously a medic-nin, I observed. My eyes fell on Kakashi again, drawn in by the pure malice in his gaze. There was nothing of his father in that expression.

"Hey, kid, you trying to kill me with your eyes or something?" I joked, but his expression didn't even twitch.

"You would deserve it," was all he said. My eyebrows shot up. This wasn't a child I was facing, it was a ninja. An odd sense of respect triggered inside me.

"Kakashi..." both Minato and Rin said, the latter adding a _kun_ at the end.

"Here we go," Obito complained.

"Really?" I drawled.

"Yes. Attacking an ally is against the rules. You should be sentenced as a traitor by your ninja village," he stated coldly. I flinched slightly at his insult but smirked in return, surprised at his reasoning. I had expected his defence of Minato, something about protecting comrades, not something as conditional as..._rules_.

"Good thing I don't have a ninja village then, huh?" I asked mockingly before accepting the offered bandages from the girl with a thanks. Kakashi frowned.

"I've never seen Sensei's speed countered like that," Rin said, probably as a means of changing the subject. I smirked at her, Minato taking the bandages away from me and proceeding to take a look at my arm. I moved my hand away reluctantly and watched his jaw tense as he saw the wound.

"It looks worse than it is, it barely hurts," I half-lied, containing a wince when he pulled the bandage over it. I watched his concentrated face carefully as he finished bandaging the wound up carefully but quickly, taking him in, the thin cuts that had sliced all over his skin. A twinge of guilt raised inside of me, but I tried to brush it away. We hadn't been this close in too long a time. "Yeah, well, I'm Minato's match. Anything he can do I can counter," I boasted. Minato snorted slightly and I looked at him, wishing that instead of having the fickle anger between us I could wrap my arms around him. Not worrying much about how he felt about it, therefore, I pressed closer to him, smiling and closing my eyes as I tilted my head so the side of it was against his shoulder.

"Y-you, you're Sensei's girlfriend!" Obito suddenly spluttered, his raven hair flying from side to side as he shook his head, pointing at us. I stared at him, startled.

"His girlfriend?" I repeated. That sounded ridiculous, especially taking into account our complicated situation. It sounded too childish and fickle. But how would I denominate myself? I had never thought of it before. It was just _him and me_ in my head, just like when you say pencil and expect it to have two ends.

"I don't know. I wouldn't say that," I responded. Obito frowned sceptically at us as Rin not-so-subtly tried to shut him up with nudges to the rib. I didn't mind the conversation; I was just glad Minato wasn't shouting at me.

"Then what are you then?" he inquired, but Kakashi cut us off impatiently.

"Are we going to stand around here for much longer? I have other places to train in, since our session was interrupted," he pointedly looked at me. I stuck my tongue out in return. Brat.

"You're right, Kakashi. Let's go move on to the village where I can tend Kushina's wound properly," Minato instructed, and we moved forwards with mostly Obito and me talking everybody else's ear off.

But all the while I could feel Minato's tenseness and knew that it was going to be my ear chewed off when we got to his house. But Minato would forgive my stupidity like he forgave my nature itself. And I didn't mind a little ear nibbling.

As long as it was him.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

_**A/N**_

The best bit by far is when Obito hides his face in Kakashi's arm.

Aw!

Well there you go, new chapter. This fight was fun to write, ideas just kept coming to me. Please tell me what you thought of it; interesting enough for you?

Well, a million zillion thanks to my reviewers as always and to my leta. I just had a two-hour session with children doing everything but listening to me. Though one was upset and I tried talking to her, but she wouldn't say anything. Later on she split her lip and I helped taking care of it and at then when Brownies was over she came up to me and hugged me and I was like HHUUUGGSSSS!

But yes. Review review review and make a tired girl who was writing at two last night a happy happy hippo.


	15. Chapter 14

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Fourteen _

"Please tell me, just so I can _understand_, what the _hell_ were you _thinking?_"

I was in Minato's room, feeling invigorated in freshly-showered skin, new clothes and bandages that were there more for artificial protection since a healer had patched me up. My bicep was a little raw and stung slightly when stretched but nothing I couldn't ignore easily.

"Dunno, I just wanted to fight you. Don't tell me it wasn't a good fight," I smirked, rocking slightly in my crossed-leg position in the middle of the double-bed. Minato was slightly flushed in the face as he paced back and forth in his room. I actually liked the way Minato got angry. He shouted and got irrational. Instead of going cold he vented, and it seemed much more natural than the icy tone many adopted when unpleased.

"A good fight! I was aiming to kill or to majorly maim!" he exploded. I made an offhand movement with my good arm.

"Have a little faith in me. I pulled through didn't I? Stop stressing about what could have been; my choice was obviously not that stupid because the outcome was as I expected. We could handle each other," I rationalised. Minato simply gaped at me.

"Not that _stupid?!"_ he spluttered. I sighed and lopped back in his bed, arms outstretched.

"It was fun. What was that last attack? It was..." I trailed off. It had been incredibly potent, though if someone with a higher amount of chakra could master it, I mused, it could be much better.

"That's the rasengan, it's taken me years to master. And I vowed to myself that I would not use it against my allies," he responded soberly. I closed my eyes, smiled a little.

"You never change. Always trying to protect everybody else. I don't mind that you used it against me. Actually, that's one of the reasons I fought you under cover; I wanted you to fight without reservations," I admitted. I heard him groan and then the bed sink to my right.

"It's you who never changes. You and your idiotic stunts..." he sighed and with relief I sensed that the fight was over. I opened my eyes, rolled to look at him, sitting crossed legged and facing me. I smirked.

"Oh, you wouldn't love me any other way now, would you?" I asked smoothly. Minato smiled and with that one motion his whole face softened. His hand reached out and brushed his fingers against my slightly damp hair and then the skin against my temple. I closed my eyes and smiled as his fingertips trailed down the side of my face, a gentleness of skin against skin. The feathery touch reached the shadow under my bottom lip, lifted to form a natural pout. Instinctively I parted them slightly and my breath whispered out. For a second he lingered, eyes so bright as we stared at each other that I almost lost myself, but he moved on, across my jaw line and then down towards my neck. I stretched it slightly, tilting my head back and swallowing thickly so that my skin moved under his light contact, wishing he was pressing harder instead of his teasing. He reached the edge of my large jumper and pulled it down on one shoulder so it was tight against my bicep. I lifted it to help and his finger continued its path, feeling out my collar bone, shoulder, the skin beginning in my arm. Finding no more skin he went back to my neck and his thumb pressed lightly against my collar bone and then the pressure point and I simply whispered,

"_Minato."_

The name slipped out of my lips and I wondered how these fleeting touches that could perfectly well be called chaste could be more intimate, more fulfilling than anything Sasoku or Hiroshi could do.

His hand twitched and halted against me. For a second the stillness was unbearable; the moment between realising someone is going to kiss you and actually doing so. Those few, electrified moments when you stomach clenches and you feel like you're dragging the other person in slowly and yet much faster than expected.

Those lips were suddenly replacing his fingers on my jugular, kissing once, twice, three times, moving softly forwards. I wanted to grab his strawy hair and force him down, harder, to feel those blunt nails digging into my skin as he moaned for more. But I couldn't do it; the torturous pace seemed like a deeper level of intimacy, not to be ruined by anyone but the initiator.

His teeth nipped gently against my ear, his breath impossibly hot against the sensitive skin. My breath stuttered slightly and I fisted the white sheets, one of my hands beside my head whilst the other lay beside my upper thigh.

"Did you miss me?" he whispered hotly. The mood was held precariously over us, the heat held so low it threatened to be dispelled at any moment, but the more I was denied serious touch, the more I wanted it.

"Yes," I hissed simply, anything to please him into moving things forward.

"You're just saying that, aren't you?" he asked, and I could feel the shape of the words against the side of my neck. I smirked.

"Yeah," I breathed, "but that doesn't mean it's not true."

"I know," he whispered lowly and raised his head for a moment, looking at me, my parted lips and flushed cheeks and red damp hair and caught my bottom lip between his, licking it. He kissed me with the same softness as before, simply applying more pressure. I tried raising my head slightly to capture his lips more fully but the more I lifted the more he moved away. I whined lowly and he moved his lips down my face again to my still exposed shoulder as he chuckled.

"Your punishment for being stupid," he whispered, his tongue on the curve of my shoulder before starting to move up again. I laughed softly, shifted my head slightly to murmur in his ear.

"This is punishment? This will only reinforce my stupidity, Mi-na-to," I let my almost inaudible words brush against his ear and stir the yellow hair hanging down the side of his face, breaking up his name so it almost sounded like a moan. He stilled against me and I knew, with great amusement, that he was containing himself. I myself felt like a rubber-band stretching to the point of breakage.

Suddenly he pressed his lips to my neck much more aggressively so that I could feel his teeth and tongue.

"Ah!" I gasped, not having expected him to cave in so easily. If he was completely faithful to me that meant he hadn't had sex in practically a year. It meant that the only opportunity he had to release himself is when I selfishly allowed him to. As much as I admired Minato, he was still a man, and I did not believe for one second that he was physically faithful to me, nor did I expect or want it at all. I was possessive in my own way; it would bother me more to see him laughingly having lunch with a female than a mindless rut after a few drinks, as intimate as sex could be. There was always the fear that as much as he claimed to love me, I knew perfectly well love didn't last forever. Nothing was stopping him from chance-meeting a girl that was prettier and nicer and more available than me. There were a lot of those girls and I honestly wondered how the hell I was still the favourite girl in his life.

But Minato's bed was no place for thinking. His lips were on mine the next instant, drawing my tongue out as we pushed and discovered together. Finally I disentangled my hands from the sheets to run one through his grown hair, one lifting to kneed his back, fisting the cloth over it as Minato's hands also began to travel, leaning on the length of his arm up to his elbow and with the other hitching up my jumper to burn against the skin of my hip and then stomach. I moaned into his mouth, hypersensitive to his touch as I also reached under his shirt to reach the small of his back, dragging my nails down it so that his breath stuttered. I gasped in return when his hand found my breast and I was convinced that no one that good could only have sex one week a year.

"Minato, Minato," I moaned and push his trousers slightly down from behind so I could feel more skin, pushing his bottom down slowly and lifting my hips.

"Kushina," he returned and hearing my name in his voice like that, so broken and breathless and pleasured, something tightened and released inside me and for a second I had to disengage the kiss and grip him towards me, burying my face in his chest, breathing him in.

"I'm sorry..." I said as his arms came around me and before he could say anything I reached up and kissed him again with more fervour.

I would not lose him.

I pulled at his T-shirt, difficult when you're trying to kiss and take it off at the same time, but we managed it in the end. I ran both my hands down his tanned, muscled back, feeling it ripple beneath my fingers before he too decided that a jumper was way too much clothes for me to be wearing and struggled it off. The friction between his chest and my breasts made my breath stutterand then moan as his hand replaced that.

I hooked a finger on the side of his loose trousers, running it down to the front, feeling the fine hairs against my knuckle. I moved my lips to his neck, leaving a wet trail as my hands moved down, down, and then to his upper thigh, running my hand over it, teasing as I went higher each time but never high enough. In retaliation he also gripped my upper thigh, running his fingers on the inner-part until he drew his thumb between my legs, a burning touch through trousers and panties. I arched slightly and, not to be outdone, gripped him through the cloth which only added friction to the movement. We breathed out together, a choked sound, and reached to kiss each other again, deeply, wetly, giving everything we were to each other as clothes were further shed, and touches were deepened.

We could never let this go.

**OoOoO**

"Yum, coffee. I haven't had any in _ages_," I said, wrapping the cup in both my hands, feeling the warmth it exuded and smelling the bittersweet beans. I took the first scalding sip and hummed in pleasure. There was nothing like the strong flavour wrapped in caffeine in the morning.

"Don't make that face or I'm going to have to get jealous," Minato complained jokingly. I leaned my elbows against his kitchen table, beside where I was sitting, and stuck my tongue out at him, taking another sip. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Aah," I sighed. "It's so good to be back," I admitted, looking at Minato, leaning against a counter with a cup of tea, with tenderness. He smiled in return, pushing himself away from the surface and walking towards me to lean down and kiss my temple, brushing his fingers in my freshly washed and dried hair. I tilted my face upwards and we kissed chastely for a few seconds before he sat down beside me. I linked our hands on the table and felt so calm and at home that a warm, overwhelming feeling washed my insides.

"You know...when I found you yesterday, Jiraiya was the one who told me where you were. He made it sound like you had children," I smiled a little, not sure why I was telling him but finding the experience funny enough in retrospect to do so. "I was quite worried. He's such a bastard," I added, narrowing my eyes slightly at my mental image of him. Minato chuckled in response, squeezing my hand.

"He's not that bad, he just like playing around. He had me going for a while as well. Said you were a concubine or something for some Yatsuma Young Lord in Earth Country."

I started, eyes widening. "What!? How did _he _know?" I blurted out thoughtlessly as I was taken aback by the notion that Jiraiya was keeping tabs on me, and to such extents.

I only noticed the implication of my words as Minato froze, his hand flinching against mine and falling limp. I looked at his incredulous expression before laughing.

"Oh, no no, I wasn't a concubine, just a servant. Don't look at me like that," I smiled. "Actually it turned out great. Hiroshi, that's the young lord, ended up falling in love with me-" I paused as Minato's mouth went from slightly parted to being clacked shut noisily as his teeth were forced together. His face was unnaturally blank. I blushed a little, having dug myself a hole. "Not that we did anything. Well, we kissed but-" _Shit_. Why was I saying this again? His jaw was clenched but his eyes showed nothing. "I mean, no, it was barely a kiss, Sasoku's was much worse- better- worse!" I stuttered, my tongue feeling thick in my mouth. Oh God, had I just said that? The connection between my brain and mouth had decayed in a serious bout of verbal diarrhoea. Slowly, Minato raised the hand that was not dead in mine and massaged the bridge of his nose. I smacked myself in the forehead.

"No, ok, wait a second, let me explain. I-"

"Kushina," he interrupted me, letting his arm drop from his face. "You don't have to explain. You're not...bound to me," he said, but the words were ruined by his strained voice. I sighed, shaking my head.

"Shut up, I want to explain," I retorted and proceeded to tell him about Earth Country, what had happened to me and the eventual results of having a man enamoured with me to the point where I could have gained a potential ally in the war and if not that, at least a friend in Earth Country.

It was harder to tell him about Sasoku. She went further back and to explain our friendship was like trying to replicate a sunset with crayons. You may get all the colours but the effect will remain uncaught.

"So...yeah. It wasn't really my fault. And I did ward off Hiroshi," his lip twitched slightly at the use of his first name, as it had been doing all throughout my speech, "I did tell him I was in love with someone else. So..." I peered at him, "we're cool right?"

Minato sighed a chuckle, shaking his head slightly.

"Yes, of course. I told you from the start...though I'm glad you told me," he confessed, and I smiled a little, reaching over to plant a chaste kiss on his lips. This was our dysfunctional relationship where admitting adultery was only a cause for fickle, fleeting jealousy.

"So now it's your turn," I smirked. It was morbid curiosity that propelled me to find out who and how many and how and when and where and did he like it? And did he think of me when he did it or did he want to forget, forget the girl who cannot give up her demons for him.

Oh-oh.

I forced silence in my mind. It's not exactly that I wanted to prevent it from happening, and yet the thought of it still made me feel uneasy.

So much for not being possessive.

The skin in Minato's face flushed and he looked away from me. He untangled his hand with mine to run it through his head and the gap I sensed between me and him at that moment frightened me more than anything else ever had.

"You- you don't have to tell me, I was just teasing," I stuttered, leaning away from him, smiling easily. It was good that he had been with other women; I knew that. It wasn't that fact which bothered me, it was the fact that our relationship was such that it needed a 3rd Party to survive.

"No, it's not that, oh Kushina don't look like that, it's just it's nothing I'm proud of..." he ran a hand over his face and I thought _this is what I'm doing to him_.

I loved him, I left him, here to find release in women only to find himself wrought by guilt. How much longer could I force him to live a life, denying him a healthy relationship. Someone who is there for him when he needs it, who he can come home to after a long, mentally-exhausting mission. For God's sake, he was a ninja in the middle of a war. He _needed_ someone worth more than me.

Suddenly, my head was silent and still and cold.

"Maybe...we should stop seeing each other."

The words simply slipped out. On the chair, tilted to face me as mine did the same with him, Minato became rigid in shock. My mind was screaming at me to take it back, demanding what I was doing, to realise what I was giving up. But the sentences would not cease.

"Maybe we should end this here," I went on. Slowly, Minato lowered the hand from his face and stared at me, an expression so stunned that I had to fight myself to not look away.

"_What?_" he snapped in a whisper. I tensed my jaw, clenched my fists.

This was like turning away from the end of the tunnel to stay in the deceptive darkness.

"Minato, this-"

"Is this about the woman? Because I'll tell you about her, for God's sake-"

"No, Minato, it's not about-"

"Then, why, why would you..." he stared at me as if he were trying to rip the answer from my skin with his blue eyes. I shook my head.

"Just, wait, ok." My voice was choking with itself. "Minato...this...you...I can't keep doing this to you. I can't...it just.." I closed my eyes. I heard the chair scrape back and Minato get up.

"No. I refuse this. You are not the only one in this relationship," he said angrily. I looked up into his eyes.

"I know that!"

"No, you don't. You always think of all the harm _you're_ putting _me_ through as if I don't stay with you voluntarily. Well, I do. You can't decide that I'm in too much pain; that is _my _decision. I am not a child who needs you to judge when enough is enough. Respect me and see that I will stop if it's too much. If you want to leave me then do on your own reasons, don't use mine," he ended, eyes hard.

"I don't, I don't want to leave you," I defended.

"Then there is nothing else to add." With that, he picked up both our now cold cups of coffee and set them in the sink. The liquid in them shook in Minato's shaking hands.

"I'm sorry. Minato, I'm sorry, I just don't want you to...I just..." I didn't know what to say. I had suggested it because I cared about him, because I loved him and sometimes people don't know what is best for themselves, but Minato was right. It was his decision.

"I don't want you to leave me," I said quietly. Minato turned around. His expression softened into sadness.

"Kami, Kushina, I don't want to leave you. When you say those things..." he walked over to me, cupping my face in his large palms. "Just don't even think about it ever again."

I nodded, pulling him down by his sleeve for a kiss. He complied, opening his lips against mine so we could feel each other's tongue, sharing a kiss that was not only that, but a token of what we had, and what we were fighting for.

**OoO**

It was strange to walk down the market, linked arms and talking as if we were a conventional couple that had never known anything else. It was Saturday and Team 3 had taken a break, though I didn't doubt Kakashi was off somewhere, training or brooding his little ass off. They had a mission on monday, a B rank one securing an area in the border by protecting carts of supplies and food. Because of the large target I had been 'invited' to help and had accepted, not welcoming to the idea of staying home like a housewife whilst Minato played soldier in the war.

"So what are we getting?" I asked. We had had breakfast with the people we knew who weren't on missions and had drifted off to buy supplies afterwards.

"Some nutrition bars and water purifiers, just in case. There's no point in buying food for the house, we'll do that when we get back," Minato replied, directing me to the appropriate shop.

"Kay," I said, looking around curiously at the new developments and vendors and trinkets and foods. I loved being in the middle of a busy market; the smells and sounds and curious sights that overwhelm the senses only please me.

I sniffed the air as we passed a dango shot and my mouth watered.

"Minato..." I looked up at him, pouting. He looked at me, confused for a second and then rolled his eyes and smiled when he spotted the food stand.

"You ate less than an hour ago!" he exclaimed but was already taking a few coins out of his pocket.

"Meet me at that shop when you're finished," he said, pointing to a small place with Kunais and swords on display behind the glass.

"I'll pay you back!" I said as I trotted away.

"Don't be stupid," I heard him say behind me and turned to wink at him, suggesting what type of payback it was going to be, before walking towards the stand between all the hustle and bustle to order two dango sticks from the stand. I chatted with the vendor for a minute about local news before happily moving away. I scanned the street for the shop and saw Minato waiting for me outside the doorway. It seemed I had been chatting longer than I thought.

With a grin I avoided the walking crowd and moved towards Minato, but was startled to a pause when someone exclaimed,

"Minato-kun!"

A very attractive woman smilingly walked towards Minato. I lost her in the crowd for a second before she appeared by his side, brushing her long black hair from her gentle featured face. Her eyes were large and almost black-looking in contrast with her healthy-looking pale skin. A voluptuous figure was wrapped up in the distinctive uniform of medic nins which mostly work in the homefront.

Minato was smiling honestly at her as they starting talking, too far away and obscured by the crowd to overhear them. Her hand was on his arm, leaning in to say something and I found no need to read their lips as I also approached the two, one dango stick in each hand. I sidestepped a walking couple and almost reached Minato. As if sensing my presence he looked up, smiling as he saw me. The girl, seeing his movement, turned around to face me. She was about my height, I noticed, maybe a little shorter, and a lot better looking. Her brows creased slightly in confusion as she saw me, though not unkindly for she smiled instinctively as I looked at her with a grin.

"Yo," I greeted eloquently. Her hand dropped from Minato's arm and she stepped away to let me pass.

"Oh, h-hello," she stumbled slightly. Minato surveyed me with amusement.

"Are those both for you?" he smirked. I narrowed my eyes playfully.

"One's for you, idiot."

"I didn't ask for any."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine then, I'll eat them both!" I went to bite the first ball of dango when a hand grabbed my wrist, stopping its lift to my mouth. His own teeth grabbed at the foot and for a second our faces were too close. I grinned as he pulled away, taking the stick with him. He turned to the girl who had watched our exchange silently.

"Kushina, this is Mayumi. Mayumi, Kushina," he introduced. Mayumi was looking at me, her eyes looking even bigger in her startled expression.

"Oh, hi," she smiled, extending her hand. I shook it, greeting her back. As is costume, her eyes wandered to the hita-ate on my arm and she frowned a little again.

"I'm sorry, I'm...afraid I don't recognise your symbol," she said haltingly. Before my eyebrows could frown my mouth was pulled into a grin.

"Whirlpool. It's not really a ninja village anymore...though there are a couple of us left. Konoha took some of us in a couple of years ago though there's none living here at the moment, I don't think." As bad as it sounded I hadn't kept tabs on my fellow people, especially after Takeo died and they didn't even blink.

"So you a friend of Minato's then?" I said good-naturedly. The girl smiled up at Minato and nodded.

"Yeah, we became quite..close after he was hospitalized for a month."

By no means did I miss that minuscule hesitation. It clicked. This was the woman he had slept with. Not some drunk girl off the bar, not a whore or someone to simply make him forget, but a nice girl, a beautiful girl, who obviously had feelings for him. Shit. Those eyes had seen him naked, had seen him moan and stutter and plead. Had he called out her name in a ragged breath that had taken both of them over? Had her mouth drawn the most base side of him, her hands discovered all the points I had discovered? Had she brought him the happiness I had left empty at my abandon?

"I'm glad," I said, smiling warmly at her. She looked at me with a little surprise. "And you were in the hospital for one month! What happened?" I looked him over. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll tell you later. For now we still have to buy the bars," he derailed. I sighed.

"Fine..."

We both turned to Mayumi and she smiled.

"I see you have things to do and I just have to pop in here before going to the hospital."

We smiled and nodded and to my surprise and secret pleasure he put a possessive arm around my waist. I only had time to see her register the move before he waved, smiled and made us turn around to walk way.

I took another bite of the dango and smiled, leaning into him. That one move showed more than I could have hoped to see. Not only a slightly devious side but a commitment to our relationship that made my proposition the day before utterly ridiculous.

If ours had been a normal relationship, then meeting the woman he had slept with would had been a catastrophe, and though I couldn't deny I had been jealous, or more than jealous, possessive, it wasn't to the point of destroying the knowledge that it wasn't important now, now that in front of her he was willing to show who was deeper in his heart.

As we disposed of our wooden sticks in a nearby bin I pulled him down to a kiss, not being able to hold the wave of affection that took hold of me. In the middle of the busy road he circled my waist and when we broke the chaste action we looked at each other, smiles on both our dango-tasting lips.

This was really it. He was the light at the end of my tunnel; what would guide me to step out of my traitorous darkness.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N

Mmmmrrggghhh. I feel like shite. Why, God, why must you smite me so?

Right, we have bigger problems than my smiting. This is the last chapter I have written. Do you know what that means!? Imminent disaster, is what. Disaster, I say! Urgh. Urgh!

Right, lets drop all this unnecessary drama (WHY GOD WHYYYYYY!?). This will be the first time I'll actually have to write a chapters every week in, well...years. All I ask is that you're considerate because between my ruddy studies and personal life, I'm a busy girl. But what the hell, you guys rock too much for me not to try my darndest to keep this steady on Mondays (unless this bloody wind flies me away to neverland first). I swear if it weren't for you lovely people and your amazing reviews this story would be updated once every three weeks whilst I damn the Naruto fandom. I mean I LOVE this story, it feels good to write plot and stuff, but hell, I've got a motherloving piece of a headache right now, so I'll leave you to your own rambling instead of mine whilst I go throw up in some spare bucket.

And yes that means you should give me some pity reviews!

;D


	16. Chapter 15

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Fifteen _

It was my turn to scout ahead and I shielded my chakra swiftly, teleporting forwards and scanning the area briefly before going to the back of the advancing caravan that held the supplies, moving in a circle, feeling out for any trace of movement or any presence that could be presented as a threat. I sped to each side quietly but briskly, not wanting to leave the team alone for too long but ensuring I was thorough in my search.

I was, as I had agreed, on the mission escorting a caravan delivering provisions to those at the border-line of Fire Country who were in fatal need of them. The mission was S-Class but, in these times of war, all missions seemed much more morbid than they should.

"No threat I could see and I think I could hear a river about half an hour from here. It would be a good place to camp before it gets to dark," I reported to Minato, looking to where the sun was already creeping towards the horizon. 

"Alright," he responded and we took our places once again, him guarding the back whilst I lead. 

"That's just stupid, how can you pin-point a river?" I heard Obito say. He was at the right of the group and I glanced at him, smirking. 

"With skill. You should look into what that is some day," I teased. He turned towards me with a glare, reddening in the face.

"Shut up! I have skill!" he grumbled at me, probably not shouting only because we had been told to keep our volume levels at the minimum. We were even using ninja-horses instead of normal ones, ensuring that they would not frighten and run away if an attack or an unfortunately loud noise occurred. 

My sharp hearing caught the short snort that came from the trees. I peered through the leaves and looked at Kakashi, our 'reserve'. As the fastest of the younger members of our team he was in charge of staying outside of our area of defence and intercept or surprise any attackers. I smirked at him, who was probably rarely outside a fight with Obito.

It had been a little awkward at first, joining Team 3. There was already obvious animosity between the two boys, but now they were all suspicious of me, with Rin caught in the middle. As the two days we had been travelling and fighting together passed, however, we had learnt to compliment each other's style of battle and defence and trust the dynamic we incorporated. The only problem I saw was Kakashi. I had expected that, being the strongest and more 'mature' of the threesome, he would be the greatest asset, but sometimes he was as much of a liability as the crybaby Obito could because he had no idea how to battle alongside people. I could see he would make an over-achieving ANBU with more training, but that wasn't what we needed. We needed a piece of a team, not a lone-wolf tagging alongside the pack. It just didn't work. 

We reached the camp and Minato guided us to a flat area a little way away from the dirt road. It was difficult to find good resting spots because none of us wanted to lay like sitting ducks beside the road, ready to be assaulted, but with the caravan we couldn't exactly just tread into the trees and hide. We also had to take into consideration the civilians that were driving the caravan, who tired much more easily than us. The Hokage, Sarutobi, had insisted that we couldn't drive the caravan ourselves because he needed as much force in Konoha as possible and taking the civilians meant that they could drive the caravan back to its village when the mission was over. They would have nothing to get stolen and so would not be in any real danger, meaning that an unchaperoned travel would not be a problem. 

"We have been stopping to rest every night, Minato-sensei. Do you not think travelling some nights would reduce mission-time like requested?" Kakashi said from the trees as we led the caravan through a rubble, uneven path almost too small for the vehicle. He was as oblivious to other people's needs as ever. Or, even more troubling, saw those needs but decided against indulging them. 

Minato looked up at him and smiled a little. 

"The mission won't take any less time if we get attacked and are too tired to ward them off efficiently, risking injury. That's a danger to both us and the accomplishment of the mission," he responded wisely, hitting points that he knew would ward Kakashi's particular concern. The boy frowned but said no more, jumping down to join us as we reached the small clearing. 

"Rin, help the Shinta brothers with the horses. Kakashi, unpack. Obito, fire. Kushina and I will secure the premises," Minato ordered, smiling at the civilian brothers who were in charge of the caravan. They smiled back and with that we all went to do our respective job. It was twilight and peeking stars were suggesting a clear night as Minato and I delved into the forest, each rounding a semi-circle, setting up quick but efficient traps, scouting for any dangers and, finding none, met where each half-circle ended. We landed on the leaf-covered forest floor and looked at each other, nodding. I smiled, letting my gaze capture those catty eyes and blond hair and serious, mission-expression.

"Just like old times, eh?" I said, and in the pit of me, the place which would never change, there was a deep ache that had the name of one lost, blue-haired boy from Whirlpool. 

Minato must have understood my expression because he reached out and caressed my face, smiling a little. 

"Almost," he whispered and brushed his lips against my temple before grabbing my hand and pulling me onward. I sighed with a smile, squeezing his hand back. 

The pain inside me didn't make the scenario any less _right_. 

OoO

The familiar sound of forest-quiet surrounded our tired bodies, worn by endless walking and watching and fighting and anticipating. The constant tempo of water and the gossiping leaves accompanied the culture of nocturnal life as I stared at the stars, unable to sleep. Camping out with people was now unfamiliar to me, which struck me as incredibly sad since when I had started my journey the opposite reaction had been sparked inside me. But it wasn't even that, considering I had been with the team for a couple of days already. It was just that I was sinking into that life, the style of the pack, the belonging of a ninja-village. It felt good. And that scared me. 

I sat up, sighing away the stars overhead and turned to the tree where I knew Minato was doing his turn as guard. There was no point in leaving him up there, deprived of sleep, whilst I wasted my hours away thinking in circles. 

Pushing the covers of my sleeping bag off me, I stood up, trying not crack my shoulders and make a noise, but I could feel I wasn't the only one awake. 

"Stop glaring at me and go to sleep, kid. You need the rest," I said without even turning to look at Kakashi. I heard him growl softly but didn't stay long enough to listen to his whining. Instead I went over to where Minato was sitting with his back against a tree trunk. Though his eyes were closed I knew he was attentive; if someone was deciding to attack, our eyes would be of little use until it was too late. He was resting close enough to protect but far enough that our possible conversation would not bother the resting team. 

Minato opened his eyes and looked sideways at me as I sat down, his body covered in shadow, like the rest of the world. 

"I can take watch, if you want. I can't sleep anyways and as we get closer to the border we're probably going to get attacked more heavily so there's no point for both of us to be tired," I said. Minato's eyes were dim and yet just as blue in the darkness. 

"I slept last night, I'm fine," he responded after a lull in time where all he did was stare. I sighed and tilted my head to look at the sky again. Why was it that the sky always seemed so much clearer in Fire Country? Even Star Village's hadn't been so alive-looking. 

My head twitched towards him suddenly as his fingers laced with mine. His eyes hadn't left me. 

"I'm glad you're here," he said, and I wondered if he did it on purpose. I couldn't pinpoint if the words made me feel better or worse. They just made me _feel_. 

"I'm...I'm glad I'm here too," I admitted and wasn't that the problem, really? I kissed the corner of his mouth, not wanting to distract him too long from his duties. Feeling inexplicably calmer, I scooted closer to him, feeling his warmth against mine, letting my head rest on his shoulder. With my hand in his I let my eyes close and with a kiss on my head I fell into sleep more rapidly than I thought possible a few minutes prior. 

When it was my turn to guard, Minato shook me awake gently but didn't leave my side. Instead, he stretched out on the floor and laid his head in my lap. I looked down at him with the deepest of affections and let my hand run through his head, even after his breath evened-out in sleep. When camp finally started stirring at dawn, Minato didn't even shift, blocking the sun from his eyes as he nestled his face in my thighs. I watched, amused, as his underlings woke up and stared at the scene with undeniable shock. I imagined how awkward and surprising it must have been to see an authority figure and almost parental image be seen in such an affectionate position, especially with a woman they didn't even know. Team Captains are often idolized in the genins' minds, becoming invincible, even when it's clear they're not. Someone as strong as Minato obviously must be a difficult image to reconcile with a simple man with a life outside the way of the ninja. But in reality we were just 20, barely out of being teenagers. Students often know nothing of their teacher's true past. 

Kakashi, how not, was the first to get up. When his glance met Minato's resting form he stared for a good ten seconds whilst I smirked, trying to contain laughter. His face had apparently rejected the idea of showing expression and was blank as he looked at us. He was obviously having trouble with the idea of his sensei not being as law-abiding as he was. Once the boy spotted my amusement, however, he had frowned and walked away to the river to wash. 

Rin had been next, expression surprised and then flushing as she saw us. A moment later her eyes had adapted that expression most teenage girls develop when seeing something romantic and with a smile had gone off to join Kakashi, probably hoping for some re-bound of love. Obito's reaction, however, was a little louder.

"Wha-wha-what!" he practically shouted, staring, and I wondered if his eyes widening anymore would cause them to pop out of their sockets. "You!" he accused me, pointing, as Minato sat up blearily, half his face red and with crease-marks. He blinked at Obito as the boy exclaimed to me, "you make him weird!" and stomped off to his teammates. Minato stared after him for a second before turning to me. I was grinning, pleased at the trouble and finding his rumpled form extremely adorable. I was guessing it was a rare occurrence and even a danger to have Minato awaken so disoriented but I was going to take the credit for his deep sleep anyway. 

"Mornin', Sunshine," I smirked, pulling at one of his yellow spikes of messy hair and kissing him lingeringly on the lips.

"Oh my God! Did you see that!" Obito was heard screaming beside the river. I rolled my eyes, nevertheless amused by his surprise and set to helping everybody with the cleaning process before Minato and I went to un-do the traps. As we set off again everything seemed to be in place, but I couldn't miss the new attitude in the group besides Minato's soft smiles. 

OoO

I ducked and kicked, throwing a shuriken which imbedded itself in the forehead of one of our assailants, twirling away from yet another fire attack as I kicked the legs under a second enemy, killing her off as well. 

We had been ambushed suddenly, only a couple of seconds to get into formation, a protective circle around the civilians and caravan before more than twenty well-trained ninjas attacked. It was obvious they were sent only to destroy the goods for most of them had fire-attacks or powerful crushing jutsus. 

As soon as I appeared I released a jolt of sharp air, flattening trees so that we had an area to drive them away to. Most of the enemies jumped away in time but two got their legs cleanly cut off and they wailed in agony before I finished them off with a couple of shuriken. 

Obito, I had found out at the start of the mission, was an Uchiha, even though he still hadn't activated his sharingan, meaning he also had an affinity with fire, so that he could fight element against element. 

Despite our disadvantage in number we were holding them off pretty well, the caravan yet intact when the number was down to fifteen. But then it was made obvious that we had eliminated the weaker ones, the real threat left behind. 

"Give it up, there is no chance some runts like you can beat us," who I guessed was the leader said with a sneer on thin lips, a beard shaking with his words as he pierced us with his black-beetle eyes. 

"Pfft, you don't know who you're dealing with, fat-ass," I retorted, ignoring that he had a fit-looking body. The irrelevance of truth in insults is absolute. He narrowed his eyes and in retaliation to my insult sucked in a mouthful of air and spit out another fire-ball.

These people were so annoying, but their persistence was a little troubling. Minato's speed wasn't put to full potential if there were many attacking at once and there was no one to throw his kunais. 

Obito was clumsy, and Rin had a low-chakra level, and yet it was Kakashi who fucked things up. The boy was so intent on defeating the men and getting the mission underway that when two of the enemies attacked the caravan and a fallen Obito at the same time he went to protect the goods, even if the horses, men and majority of the things were not in direct danger. His teammate, however, was. 

With a snarl I ducked under the flames, pulling off an almost impossible spin. I choked on a scream, however, as the hot air and flames liked by back, scorching it as I grabbed the goggled boy and flung ourselves to safety. In anger I teleported to the offending man's side and slit his throat cleanly. 

Game time was over. 

"Kakashi you fool, what do you think you're doing!" I screamed at the boy. Throwing a glance at Obito who had teared-up. I hadn't moved quite in time and his right shoulder was slightly burnt, but nothing serious. My back wasn't even throbbing, it was just a constant sheet of pain. 

"Kushina-san! Your back!" I heard Rin exclaim. I looked around. There were ten attackers left and the 3 youngest on our team were low on chakra. 

I smiled at her through a wince at the pain as the ruined skin on my back stretched. 

"You take care of Obito, and stay close to the caravan, you three. I'm not the leader but it's time you learnt a lesson in team-work," I glared and then looked at Minato who was holding off the remaining troop, mostly paused and seeing what our next move would be without three of our already small defence. He nodded, and I grinned.

There was nothing more exhilarating than fighting with a partner who knows you; how you work, how you battle, how you think, and vice-versa. 

"Enough play," I said and realised that even though I couldn't simply wrap the caravan in water and spoil the materials and drown the horses, I would try a different tactic. 

I sped through hand-signals as another bout of fire was aimed at the provisions and I raised a wall of water that would not just be sizzled by the strong fire, but that was also wrapped in a current of air that would not feed it, but reflect it. The wall stayed in play even as the attack ended and taking advantage of the enemy's surprise Minato and I launched into an attack.

It was like dancing. 

We could read body-movement and intention like only old teammates could. I threw another pulse of slicing air at their feet and he would compliment that with lightning from above. When I threw myself in a series of physical attacks Minato would have my back, deflecting any weapons. I conjured a wave of water to douse that battered earth and he laced it with electricity, making it deadly. It wasn't easy, deflecting the great number of attacks, but as we did, he grabbed my waist, spinning us away and I would twirl us faster with air until we were back-to-back and off again, fighting. When I ducked Minato would be over me, throwing a kick. When he dodged I would throw a shuriken.

We were in perfect harmony. Like Ah and Un, one would breathe out as the other breathed in. 

At last, the area was littered with bodies and only the leader was left, panting and sweaty and his eyes wild in disbelief. 

"This cannot be! You will-" but we had no time for his nonsense. I conjured up a great dragon of water, pulling the chakra out of me and as the man was startled shut in terror Minato teleported behind him and snapped his neck. There was a moment of sickening silence after the noise of the break before he slumped to the ground. I breathed out, letting my shoulders relax and my dragon dissolve in a 10-second rain that doused all persistent fires. I crouched slightly and let the water try and wash the blood from my back.

I let the water-wall fall and closed my eyes. That barrier had just kept sucking from my chakra levels. I blinked a little at the swimming floor under me but focused determinedly. We had to find camp and I was sure as hell not going to be the one slowing my team down. 

"Kushina!" Minato's voice called out and suddenly he was grabbing my arm, supporting me. I straightened painfully, giving him a smile before shaking him off gently. We were all drenched in my water and I squeezed it out of my eyes. 

"Let's go," I said, walking carefully to the caravan where Minato's team was staring at us. 

"Kushina, don't-"

"That was amazing!" Obito exclaimed, thankfully cutting Minato off. The boy was flushed and awed eyed, like Rin.

"I've never seen two people fight like that," the girl supported. "Have you two fought together in the past, then?" she went on to ask.

"Of course! I was his teammate when we were about your age," I commented, signalling to the drivers that we had to move on. 

"No you weren't." 

I looked at Kakashi, attracted by his cold words.

"What?"

"You weren't his teammate. I've looked up his past team and you weren't in it." 

I ignored how completely paranoid he revealed to be and frowned a little. I knew I wasn't a Konoha ninja but surely fighting for the village for four whole years had managed me enough grace as to be mentioned as having fought beside Minato.

"Well, I wasn't to start with, but I was in later years. You must have missed-"

"No," he cut me off. "I searched thoroughly for your name. It is in no ninja file. Neither your name nor profile is mentioned," he stated. I blinked slowly before staring at him in shock. It wasn't that my pride was affected, really, it was just the concept that Konoha was so...so self-involved that it would not recognise people who had lived and breathed and fought for the village for years. 

"That's enough. We have to get moving and tend to your wounds, as well as the one Kakashi is hiding," Minato insisted. At that, Rin turned to Kakashi reproachfully. I shook my head to insist a continuation of the conversation but changed my mind and nodded, a frown on my face, moving to the front of the line in order to lead once again, biting my cheek through the pain and exhaustion but then, as we walked forwards, I concentrated on the pain I had attained trying to protect a Fire-Country ninja and thought,

_Fuck you, Konoha. _

OoO

Another clearing, a slightly different routine. 

Minato was checking the premises whilst the only thing I could concentrate on was the agony from my scalded back. My ripped and melted shirt had not revealed the full extent of the burns the hot-air generated by the fire had caused and to de-rail any protests Minato might have invoked I had thrown my old cape over myself, covering the wounds. 

"Pass me the disinfectant and the piece of cloth," I ordered Rin who had already wasted all her chakra tending to Obito and Kakashi. She did as I asked, beside me should I need any help.

Carefully and controlling my expression as best I could I slid the disguising cloth from my back, leaving the shirt. I took a breath and then grabbed Rin's scissors and cut away the remaining shirt, revealing my bound chest and stomach. The two civilians turned away, flushing. As the material was removed the burns were exposed, and I felt how some of the cloth had melted unto my skin.

Shit. 

Rin gasped as the marred flesh and looked at me, horrified.

"Ku-"

"It's ok, kid, stand there- on front of me. Good. Just do what I tell you," I said gently. She swallowed and nodded and I hoped what I was about to do wouldn't traumatize her. 

"Right, dose the cloth completely in disinfectant," I said whilst I occupied myself by stuffing my mouth with cotton; folding the material into my mouth and then tying it at the back of my head. Rin watched my precise movement with wide eyes and when I signalled her, she handed me the dripping rectangle of material. 

Reaching back I settled it over the pained skin and muscle on my back. I was no medic nin but living and coping alone for years taught a person how to survive. 

I concentrated some chakra between the wetness and the melted shirt and then the area between that and my raw skin. I closed my eyes and concentrating, putting all other feeling outside the box, all other sound and distraction.

And then I _pulled_. 

The melted cloth stuck to the wet one, attracted by the currents of air specified in certain sections, but it was inevitable that some of my skin was ripped clean from my body at the action. I tried to repair it but pain was shooting through my senses. I closed my eyes tight and tried not to let any sound slip, but a short scream couldn't help but be muffled by the bitten-down cotton in my mouth. 

"Kushina-san!"

"Kushina!" 

Ignoring the shouts, I re-applied the antibiotic cloth to my back on its other side and let the coolness sooth me fractionally. 

There were people fussing around me but I couldn't afford to waste my time on them as I pulled the cloth out of my mouth, a little bloody where my canine had still managed to nick my lip and then taking out some bandages and unrolling them. 

"Rin, if you don't mind, can you please tend to my back when your chakra levels are higher?" I asked through the noise. 

"I-I- Kushina-san, I can do it now, my levels-"

"No, it's ok, rest. The wound won't infect," I cut her off. I refused to be a liability. 

"Not- not going to infect? Fuck, Kushina, look at your back! You're in pain!" Minato practically shouted. I really don't know why people insisted he was always so calm; he seemed to always be rather emotional around me. 

"I'm fine. I do this all the time when I'm alone," I said casually, tightening a bandage with a wince.

"You're not _**alone now**_Just because Konoha doesn't have your record-"

"Don't be ridiculous," I cut him off. "I'm not a child. Do you think I am shallow enough to think myself lost and alone because I don't have a ninja village? I don't mean to be- ah-" I gasped at a grazing of a particularly bad burn and Minato twitched forwards, taking the bandages from my hands forcefully. I glared before sighing. "I don't mean to be overly sentimental, but I have you. And that's my home, if you'll take me," I said. It wasn't that it didn't bother me, what Konoha had done- it really _really_ pissed me off- but it wasn't the moment for petty admissions.

Minato's hands were shaking as he tucked in the end of the bandage and when he looked up at me his eyes were bright. Suddenly, however, those eyes were closed as he leaned forward to crash his lips to mine, a hand at the back of my head and being careful with my back. I stuttered a breath into his lips and gripped his arm, kissing back, feeling a relief I didn't know I needed swell inside me as someone nearby gasped loudly. 

"Rule seven; any action of the affectionate or sexual kind is forbidden whilst on the process of a mission," Kakashi intoned. Minato and I parted and I threw a pebble at Kakashi's head, who dodged it neatly, glaring at me. 

"You're such a prude. I bet you'll be a full-out pervert by the time you hit twenty," I teased, but darkness was falling and we were all far too exhausted. With a sigh I lay down on my front on my already spread-out sleeping bag. 

"Right, I have to rest a tiny bit." I tilted my head up to Minato and said, "wake me up in a couple of hours so I can do my slot in watch-time," I said. He smirked down at me.

"Of course."

I glared and turned my head, facing away from the already built fire where Obito was still gaping. 

"You're lying," I grumbled into the plastic, but I could already feel the edges of my senses blur. The last thing I knew was a kiss on my head before I slipped away, knowing that Minato was already performing healing-jutsus against my will. 

OoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N

I know it's a little late but it's on Monday! It's just been a totally hectic day. Not to mention I had to waste two hours of my life going to a stupid mass with a freaking donkey. I've been to petting zoos, people! 

Man I hate Easter. It's practically the only time of year I give in and eat chocolate. I have a great strength of will but when _so much of it_ is just _given_ to me, well, how could I waste it :3? 

But yeah, busybusybusy, hope u guys liked this, reviewreview and I love u all. And I reply to all reviews so if u want one log in or leave your e-mail!

See ya next Monday most most hopefully.

OH and if anyone wants to rant about the new chapter I AM YOUR WOMAN. 

;) meorw. 


	17. Chapter 16

**Warnings: **This is rated M for a reason, and that reason is sex. I don't care what age you are, but if you're not mentally mature enough not to giggle at the word or you find anything new in what I write, you are warned that giggling and learning is ahead.

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Sixteen _

Despite my earlier admonishing of Minato when he had said I was upset about not being acknowledged by Konoha, I had become distant of the team's attention. It wasn't an exaggerated cold shoulder or an inability to work and fight with them, but I would talk and interact less simply because most of the time I was deep in thought, brooding over the knowledge of what I was to Konoha. To a ninja, land is supposed to come even before comrade, and even though I didn't agree with that command, I still felt the significant bond of duty with the Fire Country's ninja village. But the fact was that if I died, there would be no record of me. It was with a start and a scowl that I realised that Takeo, apart from not being buried in the ninja cemetery, was probably not recorded in Konoha files. And, of course, there was no trace of ninja in Whirlpool. Without me here he would, effectively, disappear from memory.

As we reached the base safely and then turned back with only a few hours of rest, I realised that there was a deep resentment inside me. I had thought myself uncaring of the villagers who had disdained me for not being from Konoha during my stay and so consequently regarded me as a waste of provision and space when that lacked. I had thought myself, if not over, then at least accepting the fact that my home was gone, turned into something else; Wave Island with no ninja profit. But there was a tight, black centre to all of that that I couldn't let go. I couldn't forget what they had done to my village. I couldn't forget the love and dedication I had put into Konoha. I couldn't forget the blood spilled for it, Takeo's body a morbid reminder of what the war is really about. Even if we had not been born in Konoha, did we not deserve to be named in the ninja monument of those who die in battle? As a mother should love the adopted children an equal amount as the blood-related ones, Konoha should have accepted us.

But it didn't.

And it only made my black centre tighten and grow.

It was a strange reaction it caused within me. I wasn't one to hold grudges, or even one to hate easily. I gave second chances thoughtlessly because life was too short not to. But this wasn't just about resentment, it was about how I was supposed to lead my life. Konoha's rejection was exactly why I did not settle there; the reason to my lack of belonging, why I kept drifting. Even though I wanted to stay with Minato, wanted him to be enough, life wasn't that simple. Not only is it not a romance novel where love can conquer all, we were in a time of war where the alliance of countries was vital to the development of our life and history itself. It wasn't a matter of Minato Vs Konoha's spitefulness. It was about me and the decisions I had to make not to be happy, but to be me, and to be useful, and to make decisions I wouldn't regret.

We had forgone the safety of the forest for a faster run on the trees right beside the road, which were straighter and sturdier in consequence of the constant sunlight, and we didn't have to wind around missing-limbs and slippery vines. The wound on my back was treated well and it healed rapidly, and though painful, I could manage through the feeling until it was practically cured entirely. Only minor attacks troubled us throughout the mission and in the space of a few days we were back in the all welcoming village of Konoha.

It was nearing twilight, making Konoha wash in an orange light that gave false hope of warmth as we crossed the main gate with little supervision.

"Nice work, team," Minato congratulated, smiling at the trio as they stopped in a fork of the road. Obito and Rin smiled whilst Kakashi looked as if the debriefing was unnecessary. "We'll meet tomorrow morning at nine to report back to the Hokage and then to get you signed up for the Chuunin Exams, Kakashi, and then you can all have two days off, including tomorrow. Fair?" he asked and the three of them gave positive replies of varying enthusiasm. With a nod we parted ways, Minato's team going down one road whilst he and I walked quietly onwards. Despite the blood loss and long mission I was still fairly energetic, having a high stress and pain tolerance, and I glanced around to take in the village's soft and harsh edges.

"Should we buy something to eat, or do you have ramen at home?" I asked Minato, giving him a sidelong glance before turning to gaze at my surroundings once again. There were a few closed shops and open restaurants, thinning out a way ahead as we neared a residential area, where Minato lived.

"I have some ramen, but if you want to get something fresher-"

"Nah, I like ramen. It's cheaper anyway," I cut him off with half a smile. He smiled back and shrugged, continuing on in a plain, comfortable silence. Despite my reservations with Konoha, my inability with grudges made my attitude with Minato end up as being just as friendly as all those years ago when we were both 14.

It was strange to enter Minato's home together with him after the shared mission, as if we were any other ninja couple. The routine we shifted into was not familiar and yet well-fitted and appropriate, as if we had been at it for years.

Under my pleading we had dinner first. Sure we were dirty and sweaty and stinky but I was hungry. No more needed to be said.

"How long does water take to boil?" I whined, setting my face sideways on the table and pleading the pot of water to start bubbling with my eyes.

"I swear you could take a lunch break in the most epic of battles if you were hungry enough," Minato chuckled, moving away from the heating liquid to run his hands through my hair affectionately. I smirked, tilting my head so I could see him better but not lifting it.

"Damn right, only I would eat the enemy instead of ramen."

Minato's smile widened and he ran his thumb across my shoulder under the material of my shirt before walking away again and busying himself with pouring the water on the food and leaving more to boil, knowing only too well that I would want seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths...

I watched him contently until, finally, he settled the steaming broth and noodles before me, sitting down himself as I rightened my posture, digging in at once, ignoring my scalding tongue. It was halfway through my third packet that I slowed down enough to entertain a conversation.

"So we have to wake up early to go to Sarutobi tomorrow?" I asked as I swallowed another mouthful, looking up at him.

"You can stay in bed if you want," he said, shrugging, and then suddenly froze. I frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean? I have to report, what about..." I trailed off as it hit me. Of course I didn't have to meet the Hokage, of course my report wasn't needed, because it wouldn't be recorded. Konoha's system deemed its own ninjas' information useful, and anything by any other name nonsense. I blinked, slowly, setting my chopstick hand down. I wondered how Sarutobi thought that was a good idea. Did he assume that in times of war trust was to be diminished to a village's own ninjas? That was more the way of the Sand. And even if that was the case, were his ideals so deontological? Were rules in his book so absolute that he couldn't give leeway, even to me? Or would that be the thin edge of the wedge?

"Oh, right," I said, and laughed a little, bitterly. I would accept how things were, would live with them, but that didn't meant I liked it. It didn't mean I had to make peace with the idea of Takeo being not even a concept in the memories of these ungrateful ninja. It was worrisome to think how easily they would turn against something that would threaten their way of life, probably even if it was one of their own.

"Kushina..." Minato said, waking me from my endless amount of ranting, internal questions. He reached over the table, taking my hand, still holding the bowl, in his. I smiled crookedly at him.

"I'm fine. I'm just..." I couldn't quite put it into words, but his eyes were soft and accepting anyway.

"I understand. I'm sorry," he murmured and I shook my head.

"It's not your fault," I defended, but he shook his head as well, squeezing my hand.

"Doesn't mean I don't feel sorry," he said, and I knew it was true. He was a born leader, a born warrior. To his core I didn't believe there was one discriminating, petty bone in his body. I smiled widely at him and pushed my noodles slightly to the side, leaning over the small table to kiss his salty lips. I pecked him softly once, twice, looking at his blue, blue eyes before closing mine and a leaving lingering kiss that captured his bottom lip. I could hear the almost forgotten breath through his nose as he also pushed the food aside, his large hands coming to the sides of my face to hold me in place as my hip-bones were pressured painfully by the edge of the wood. I let my mouth open slightly and a canine brush against his skin, moistening the spot with my tongue before lifting my lips from his once again, despite the hands trying to keep me in place. My position was too awkward and I disentangled myself from him before climbing on the table. His pupils had widened, a reflex caused by lust, a bodily attempt to swallow the other person whole, in sight and touch. I was on my knees and so too high for a comfortable kiss but I lifted my hand, running it through his dusty hair, feeling the softness despite it being slightly greasy and dirty, just like mine. My fingers reached for a second run-through, this time a little more forcefully so that his head tilted back willingly and I leaned down, tilting my head for another teasing, feathery kiss.

"Kushina..." he rasped slightly and I kissed him deeper, making him open his mouth with mine, taking control of the kiss by slipping my tongue in, finding him wet and hot and breathless. His hand was in my hair and another on my rear, pushing be forwards as he scraped the chair backwards, our lips disengaging for a pant-filled moment before I opened my legs to sit on the edge of the table and he stood between them. I reached upwards and pulled him down again, a slightly painful clash of lips before we reached a rhythm once again. His teeth were nibbling my lip and I moaned slightly, a muffled sound lacking oxygen or coherence. I slipped a hand under Minato's shirt, feeling that planes of hard, trained muscle. I let my finger brush against his navel and his breath stuttered slightly over mine before I drew an outright moan as I reached his nipple, thumb and pointing finger rolling it until it was completely hard. His hands reached behind me and pressed me closer, squeezing slightly as the kiss became completely opened mouth, a little more desperate with our wandering hands. I laughed breathily as he his hand pressed against my stomach and move upwards only to find that my chest was bound in bandage.

"Get it off," he ordered and we parted to struggle my shirt off me in a stumbling fashion. He forgot the bandages as he pulled me closer again, as if avoiding each other's touch for more than a few seconds would make us drown.

With a wet noise my mouth lifted from his as he fumbled with the bandages and I pressed licking kisses across his cheek. I breathed into his ear and felt him shiver, smirking into his skin before dipping the lobe of the ear in my mouth, biting the sensitive path slightly before nibbling and kissing and stroking the shell with my tongue. Minato stopped unwinding my bandages for a moment to rub his hands against my back in a desperate _touch_. I could feel his erection press against my stomach, restrained only slightly in his lose trousers. He stepped away from me slightly to finish unwrapping me from my bindings. I trailed my mouth down his jaw line, teasing his hip bones with my fingers as I brushed my lips lightly over his pulse point before licking it, letting my lips and teeth take over and he trembled and moaned.

"Ku-kushina," he stuttered as he gave a final pull and the bandages were left to flutter to the ground in winding, dirty white. His hand cupped my breast, rubbing slightly before his fingers captured my nipple gently. I gasped roughly, making my lips disengage from his skin at the sensation, burying my face in his shoulder, breathing across his skin as my hand gripped his hair. I heard him chuckle before he lifted my chin with his other hand. I raised my head to lock eyes with azure and black as his thumb rouse to rub against my bottom lip. The patterned skin then pressed against the seam of my lips and they opened instinctively to let the digit slip inside. I ran my tongue across it as his other fingers kept paying attention to my perk breast.

Slowly, he removed his thumb from my mouth. There was only a second of disappointment as both his hands left me before the saliva-coated thumb rubbed against my left nipple. I moaned at the smooth feeling, the heat coiled like burning wire in my stomach tightening. I ran my hand across his hair again, leaning forwards to kiss him again, meeting his already open lips with mine, letting our tongues move and push against each other. Soon, however, I decided that he was donning far too much clothing and the air was hot with our arousal-made air as I yanked his shirt over his blond head. I ran my hands over his chest, forcing kisses and bites on his neck and shoulder when he suddenly dipped, drawing a nipple in his mouth and I cried out in surprise and pleasure, writhing slightly under the ministration as his tongue drew a semi-circle around it before flicking it with the tip.

"Minato- oh God," I breathed and let my mind blank completely for a few seconds before I awoke my hands once again, pulling at his hair and making him kiss me on the mouth as I straddled him, almost tangling with his thighs as I made sure not to crush the erection.

He stumbled backwards as he reached under my bottom to hitch me up, both of us moaning slightly at the feel of our bare chests rubbing against each other. In our desperate attempt to move ourselves we knocked Minato's bowl over, causing it to splash down the back of my thigh and across his legs, porcelain smashing against the floor in a sudden noise, too harsh for the sibilance of sounds that came from our mouths. We jerked slightly at the interruption but it didn't stop our laughing kiss that lost amusement as Minato stumbled against the kitchen counter, my hands fisted in his hair again and pulling his mouth closer. The air stank of salty miso and soy sauce as we tried to pull each other closer, closer, never close enough. Through that, however, the wetness of the miso made me uncomfortable and I could feel the grime of the mission still on us.

"Shower," I gasped into his lips, repeating it once again before he grunted slightly in admission and hitching me up and holding me safely against him, legs still wound around him. He tumbled with a lot of difficulty towards the bathroom. We had to stop momentarily, my lips on his neck distracting him, hand against his chest once again. He took the opportunity of having my back against the wall by supporting me with only one arm whilst one of his hands managed to push itself between us and his fingers rubbed between my legs, pressing against the core of my heat through all the material so that is was the suggestion of a sensation, teasing. A short, hot gasp of air ripped across my lips as I stuttered his name in a soft, _Mina-nato..._

His hand left and wound around me again and I kissed him deeply as we toppled blindly forward, my lips moving to his ear again, pulling cruelly with my teeth as we finally staggered into the bathroom, soothing the bite with my tongue. We lurched into the shower, throwing its sliding door open as I was pressed again the wall again. We gasped and moaned as we were distracted by his hands against my breast and the back of my thighs and his nipples and mouth and ears and hair until it just wasn't enough and I struggled to put my feet on the ground whilst losing the least amount of touch. Minato turned the water on by accident as he gave me space to do so and a sprout of acid-cold water spurted against out heated skin, making us cry out and Minato's hands turn the heating tap on at once, letting the liquid turning warm and then hot. I was starting to lower my trousers when he stopped me, the now wet material sticking to my skin uncomfortably. He pushed me against the cold wall once again and without even a warning he slipped his hand under my clothes and with only a second to adjust himself, slipped one finger in, almost immediately followed by another. I gasped and moaned at the same time at the fingering thrust that searched inside me, and I writhed and breathed heavily into the kiss that he pressed against my mouth as he continued moving deeper until with a mewl of protest from me his fingers disappeared. I opened my eyes hazily to look at Minato across the steaming air, the water not quite reaching our pressed forms, just drizzling a light bounce of drops and I stared, transfixed, at how the light dew was caught in his hair, making it glitter almost as brightly as his eyes. I drew him in for a long, deep, languid kiss. He moved down from them to my neck, tracing wet electricity to the dip between my collar bones and then farther south, drawing one nipple into my mouth, then another. I was writhing again, moaning disjointed syllables of his name as he moved onwards, dipping his tongue into my navel before his lips reached the edge of my trousers. I was trembling in anticipation as his bottom lip was dragged horizontally across my skin, the tips of his fingers slipping under cloth. He unpeeled the material from my slowly, his lips following one of his hands, kissing down my hip, the edge of my knickers, and then down my thighs so that I sighed slightly. When he reached my knees, however, his fingers continued down whilst his lips went up again, across my inner thighs. He paused, lingering at the edge of the only remaining piece of cloth again apart from that which was bunched around my ankles and I gripped his yellow hair.

"Minato..." I whispered in the same tone as a plead and he kissed the middle of my panties before pulling them down. He was on his knees and he looked at me, his eyes darkdarkdark as I locked gazes with him, my red hair falling forwards, unchecked. I mouthed his name slightly, slowly, and without another moment of hesitation his tongue slipped inside where his fingers had been moments before.

"Aah- ah, Minato-" I gasped, my hands fisting harder. I was close to the edge, so close. His fingers were on my inner thighs, opening me wider, and suddenly he hit that spot, making me cry out loudly, like I always was. It was a final swipe of his tongue and a muffled, rough call of my name that had me over the edge, teetering into a blinding white world, like a shot that bloomed though me in pleasure. The sensation disabled my joints so that my knees buckled. My fall was avoided by Minato, however, who was on his feet once again. I blinked slowly, a smile on my face as I felt the slow kisses being pressed against my shoulder. My smile widened and I lifted his chin for a deep, slow kiss as I wondered about his patience, for he was still sporting a full erection under his clothes. My senses were sharpening again and I could feel the desperate edge to his actions. I palmed the rigid form between his legs and he moaned into my mouth so that I disengaged so that I could yank his trousers and boxers quickly down at once. His fingers slipped inside me again for a few seconds, on hand on my breast as we positioned ourselves on the slippery floor.

"Come on, Minato," I whispered above the sound of cascading water and his eyes were on mine for a second before he hitched my legs around him again, the wall sliding against my back a little painfully before I forgot all sensation except pleasure as he thrust inside me, filling me at once. He moaned deeply and I grew only more aroused at the sound as I opened my thighs wider, squeezing to keep me in place as we kissed messily, parting to breathe and gasp as he reached deeper.

"Kushina, Ku-kushina, Kushina," he kept whispering like a hot and breathless mantra against my skin and he braced himself with a hand on the wall, the other around me as his lips moved against my ear. We moved against each other, never having enough, wanting more, wanting deeper. He was whispering something and I focused again. We were reaching the top, climbing higher, hotter, tighter.

"Don't go. Stay with me Kushina, stay, don't go, don't go," his breath was saying and I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping his shoulder with a hand so hard that I left bruises on his honey skin.

"I love you. I love you, loveyou, I love you," I gasped back, letting a single tear be washed away by water and sweat before we screaming each other's names as we spiralled into seconds-worth of oblivion. We breathed for a moment before Minato's knees almost buckled, managing to support himself on the wall as I slipped down, leaning against it. I blinked my eyes open and looked through the droplets on my eyelashes at Minato, whose face was right next to mine. I reached over and pressed a kiss on his cheek before whispering,

"I-love-you."

Minato turned his head, eyes and lips smiling as he kissed me chastely on the lips before we manoeuvred slowly and lazily and contently under the still hot shower water to wash each other down.

It was later, pitch-black outside, with clean skin and a clean kitchen, as we prepared finally for bed, that I found the piece of paper. I wondered how I had missed it, pinned to the board as it was, but I guessed that I had been too preoccupied with other things, like the man of the house himself, to notice the small slip of black pen on white.

"You kept it," I commented, grinning broadly at him. He looked over at me, turning away from the curtains he had been closing to see what I was referring to and smiled himself when he spotted what I was holding. All those months ago when I had last been in Konoha, he had dared me to open the closet where I had found parchments and secrets goods. Every time he was on a meeting or shopping or even sleeping I had spent cracking the code. It had helped that I knew him and the way he worked, and not too much time passed, with maybe a few cheats, before I could slip inside the doors. I didn't have enough time to figure out how to be able to actually remove anything from the safe but I had left him the slip of paper before I closed the closet once again.

"You're so sentimental," I teased, actually very pleased at his actions. He chuckled, pulling me to bed as I left the paper on the edge of the desk.

Sheets rustled and we chatter and chuckled as we slipped into the bed. Lights were turned off and we soon positioned our exhausted and happy bodies in an warm embrace as he wrapped his arms around me protectively, my face nestled in his chest. I would probably kick him away some time in the night, but there was never anything better than snuggling to sleep beside Minato, a kiss on my head and quiet goodnights whispered and exchanged.

In the darkness, before my smile drifted me to sleep, my sharp ears heard the rustle of the paper flutter to the floor, where it lay, promising;

_You'll never be able to lock me out of anything that's yours. _

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

_**A/N**_

Tee-hee. Ok, so, this is late. But I have a perfectly good excuse!

Ok, firstly, I live close to some foresty, hilly areas where a lot of animals live. So, the day after posting my last chapter, some racoons infiltrated into my house. They would have only scavenged some garbage but then my dog went psycho and managed to somehow chase the racoons everywhere and eventually smash up two lamps, three flower vases and my laptop screen.

Whilst that was repairing, I was off with my cousin in the aforementioned hilly-foresty area where we decided to take a walk. We've done it a million times so we weren't paying much attention, chatting away, when suddenly we heard something make an odd, squeaking, high-pitched sound. We trailed it until to our surprise we found some stupid fox having an epic battle with a beehive, and the army that came with it. We stared a little too long and the fox bolted towards us. We screamed and got out of the way in time but somehow by crashing into the bush next to the hive and rustling the tree branch where it had apparently come from, we managed to escape but not before my hand was mutilated with stings whilst my stupid cousin got off scot-free. Apparently I have some minor allergy because my hand was swollen up for days.

_Then_, to top it all off, on the weekend when I was supposed to have a few days off on Easter Weekend, I was walking to a gig when I saw a ten-pound note on the ground. Reeling at the unexpected bout of good luck I bent down to pick it up I got pushed forward, a garbage bag over my head and kidnapped by some aliens from outer space who didn't even have any decent technologies to impress me enough to make the day in their spaceship-slash-car impressive. The only cool thing was that they had tentacles for arms and beer made them explode, which was all they fed me. Seeing the lack of combustion they let my drunk-as-a-skunk ass go home to desperately write this chapter, but of course I was under the influence and then had a hangover so I couldn't.

Poor me.

So yeah. Console me with your wonderful wonderful reviews, I love you all, and updates will be on Thursday from now on. As fangirls/boys it is your duty to forgive me if I give you smut. Deal? Deal.

Right, well, have a nice week!

And, dude, are all Uchihas that creepy when they smile?

O.o


	18. Chapter 17

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Chapter Seventeen _

I frowned, scrubbing down and looking once again to the door of my inn room. Sighing, I leaned against the wooden tub that had been filled with hot water, lathering my skin with the unscented soaps meant for ninjas who didn't want to leave a trace.

I was in Water Country again after having travelled for five months, in and out of places, trying to figure out what was happening in the ninja world. It was like a ghost chasing a living thing, skirting around in the shadows. I felt like I was seeing things from the corner of my eyes but when I turned to look it had disappeared.

I felt this through the rumours that I was hearing. Not just in one place, but in all of the ninja villages. Strange bursts of chakra being felt. Concentrations of evil, dark fire being spotted from afar. The war was coming to a conclusion with a peace treaty being signed, but things were still tense and drawn. After a war, things are never the same, like a scar upon the face of youth. So many young shinobi were sacrificed, so much land destroyed. And those who had survived were still trapped by the memories and the loss. And now, with a relief, the allies were going to win, if you could call those deaths and destructions a win.

And yet...I could not relax. I felt like a secret was being kept from me, a deadly, killing secret that I would find out eventually. But when I did...it would be too late.

Dripping, I stepped out of the tub, once again flashing my eyes at the door, some deep set paranoia having crawled inside me. Getting ready for bed, I took out all my papers, accounts and photographs I carried around with me, laying them out in the bed, flipping through them, comparing rumour with rumour and picture with picture. But despite the obvious pattern, I could not decipher what was going on. The whole experience, along with the account that there was another recent attack on Konoha, was simply creating a building torrent of anxiety inside me and sometimes, when weakest, I just wanted to be in Konoha and feel safe because, for some reason, in the village of the leaf I always felt protected. But I couldn't go back just yet. I had to figure out what was happening, and I had a feeling that I better do it fast.

I let my fingers skim over paper and brush red hair out of my face. I took out a fresh piece of parchment and grabbed a pen, settling into the sheets as my knees balanced a book where I placed the paper. Making a spider diagram, I started jotting down the things I knew.

Most of the events have been spotted in areas of past warfare. Abandoned battlefields where some of the dead had not even been collected. That meant that for some reason, whatever was going on depended on sites of misery. There were a couple of forbidden jutsus that drew on the power of landmark memory, I made a note of.

Secondly, it was obvious it had to be a strong jutsu because some of the accounts were from _miles_ away. Whoever was creating these bursts were obviously incredibly powerful. That, or it was a group of them.

And then there was the dark fire. If I wasn't mistaken, that belonged to the Uchiha but for the life of me I couldn't imagine how that could be possible. A traitor? But all Uchiha were in Konoha, fighting in the war.

It didn't make sense.

I sighed, closing and rubbing my aching eyes before collecting my papers and gputting them away once again. I was going to have to stoop low to get some proper information. There was only one person I knew who was so well informed they would know something about what was going on and as all informed leaders, he was a...

OoO

"Urgh, fucking pervert," I grunted as I surveyed the area. There was a four to one, female to male ratio, and it just so happened that the females were good looking, graceful creatures, mostly dressed scantly or with tight, summer looking kimonos. And considering what I was looking at wasn't even his house, that was quite a feat.

I had spent the last month tracking down Daishi Hayato, a man expert in finding things out, and knowing what was going on underneath the obvious. That meant that there was a high chance that the man knew about me and what I had done for Whirlpool. That was why as soon as I figured out he was staying in Water Country, ironically where I had started looking for him, I had disguised myself with commonly dark hair. That was to the extent I went because the only way I would be known to him would be through speech and tongue.

Now I had to devise a plan in order to get close to him, close enough to get some information, but not to be discovered for my identity or intention.

That's why I decided to become what men always want.

Unattainable.

The robes I wore were long and thick, made out of soft colours but semi-expensive material. Instead of the fashionable small parasols that were carried by women so that their faces could be seen, I bought a bigger one that I could tilt over my face when it was raining or very sunny. I wore little makeup, but that which I wore was composed of natural colours that would tone down my natural skin colour and yet bring out my steel grey eyes. My ninja training had prepared me for becoming anything I wanted, and I had to pretend to be the opposite of what I really was. Sure, a strong, outspoken women was attractive to some, but not to most, and surely not to Hayato Daishi. He was a man that could get it all. Information, rare artefacts, women. He was a collector. Some arrogant woman would not be worth his time. But if I were pure yet strong, if I were taken in some way, or too shy...if he had to draw me out, if he had to fight to get me in some way then he would pay the price with information. I just had to make sure he knew what was going on and that he would tell me before I had to...whore myself out or something.

Irk.

I looked at myself in a store mirror and smiled. I wasn't recognisable, even with my face on show because my posture, my expression, my hair and my clothes were so different. A pale kimono adorned my skin with my hair pulled up in a virginal hairstyle. My hands were kept in front of me and on show, treated with cream to leave them soft instead of war worn. My eyes were the main focus of my face, drawing in the looks of the nice little shop girl who giggled when I smiled and blushed when complimenting her parent's shop and her clothes.

"Miss! You forgot your new sandals miss," she girl said as I walked to the door, making me turn around as the child trotted towards me with the wrapped footwear. I smiled again and took them.

"Thank you," I said, touching the tip of her nose for a moment before nodding to her mother behind the counter and then left the shop. It was raining again and I passed a coin to one of the boys waiting on the sidewalk, giving him my parasol and goods so that he could walk me to the inn. Normally that course of action would not have crossed my mind but the demure woman I was faking to be couldn't topple, damp into the inn, carrying parcels and frayed edges.

That's why I found myself walking calmly into the expensive inn, dry and composed with a downturned look and small, controlled steps. I had timed myself perfectly. I asked for a room and looked up, just once, as I was accompanied to it, glancing at the bar. My eyes met dark ones, held for only a second before I turned my back on him and walked away, feeling his attention on my.

As I turned the corner, I smiled.

OoO

Daishi Hayato was a civilian from Lightning Country. He was from a rich family and spoilt with everything that was worth something in coins. But he had turned out to be far more ambitious than his predecessors. Why have a silk Kimono, his philosophy was, when one can not only have silk but pearl silk, cut and sown and designed by the best of the best. And why only the best of the best, but not the one and only.

That's what Daishi went for. Uniqueness.

I made a point to elude him for days. I let him catch glimpses, let the energy around me draw looks in. I always had people around, to hide and move around me, like an animal that moves in a pack, letting the predator just wait and wish they would fall behind to be snagged by claws and fangs.

It was on my eighth night there that I went down, unaccompanied to the dining room of the inn where Daishi was sure to be.

"Thank you," I murmured as I folded unto a cushion beside my table, lit by a centred candle and the hanged lanterns giving the room a warm, mysterious glow.

Oh yeah. This was my show now.

Tea. Tea is perfect for seduction. It draws attention to the lips without the problem of chewing. The scent, as it attracts the drinker, attracts those who watch. It was an opportunity to display grace in how you poured, and the positioning of your hands when you raised the cup. And it often came with something easily swallowable to show off the handing of chopsticks, an opportunity to press them against lips.

I nodded thanks when the hot drink arrived. I had made sure that my voice would not be heard by Daishi. _Timing_ was everything.

I didn't look at him. Not a glance, not a hint. But I could feel him the whole time. Feel _his _glances and _his_ hints. And I knew he was going to be the first one to make the first move because all the lamb had to do was step away for the wolf to strike.

"I hope you are not going to be unaccompanied all night," I heard, not suddenly for I sensed him near the table; not with strong striding steps but with slow, assured ones. A panther. That gave me time to settle down my cup without surprise at his voice, letting my hands rest as I looked up at him with a tilt of my head, almost sideways so that though I met his eyes it didn't seem like I was making full eye contact with him.

"I mean no disturbance," I said lowly, taking the man opposite me quickly but properly for the first time.

He was...incredibly handsome.

Somehow I had expected him to be some old geezer, fat and not making an effort to look good when he could just haggle and buy what he wanted. But he was far from that. Obviously healthy, he had skin that looked naturally pale but that had caught sunlight, along with traditional black hair and dark eyes. He was a head taller than me and wore a rich looking, green kimono. His strong features looked down on me, pictured dramatically by the lanterns. It felt very strange to try and seduce a man when I had Minato but damn it if Daishi wouldn't be worth it.

I didn't let that impression show, however, relaxing my muscles but letting nothing show.

"Then you must let me sit with you so I won't worry," he said and I downturned my eyes.

"You mustn't worry, Daishi-san, I am almost finished with my tea," I said and sipped again, making the signal I had told one of the attendants I had befriended to follow. And surely enough in seconds she was by my side and collected the tea tray away from me.

"I am flattered that you know who I am," he said as I unfolded myself from the floor much more gracefully than I would have normally managed. I bowed my head slightly.

"It would be foolish of me not to know when I have the privilege of staying in the same inn," I complimented, and it was true. Faking to not know who he was would only be suspicious. So would avoiding him, I guessed, but there could be many reasons for that and I was counting on his obsessive and egocentric tendencies to play down our roles into redundancy; a male and a female, pursuing and fleeing.

"Then you must not leave me ignorant any longer and tell me your name," he said and I noticed how many orders in a coating of suggestion he dealt me with.

It was a little annoying.

"I am Yato Kiyoto," I lied, choosing Kiyoto because it meant 'clean' or 'pure'. If I was going to play the part I might as well do it the whole way.

"It is a pleasure, Yato-san," he said smoothly and I bowed deeply in return.

"Likewise, Daishi-san. I hope we meet again," I said and then exited the room in small steps, not looking back. But I could feel the gazes of the women, jealous and piercing, and his gaze as well, burning at my back.

I tried hard not to smile as I chalked another internal point towards my victory.

OoO

"Yato-san, Yato-san!" someone was shouting behind me and I frowned a little under my parasole in annoyance. The poor kid had been shouting after this so called Yato-san for the last half a minute. Whoever that-

Oh shit.

I turned around and spotted the boy I always asked to carry my things trying to catch me in the rain. I had forgotten about my pseudo name Kiyoko and my surname Yato.

"Haru-kun!" I exclaimed as the wet boy reached me, placing the parasol over him as well at once as he gave me some change I had left on purpose.

"Thank you! Oh dear, come with me to dry off," I said and we reached the inn. I ordered for a hot bath and some towels even as the small boy, with scraggy brown hair and dirty hands and feet resisted only to enter the bathroom, awe-eyed and smiling.

I lunched with him, smiling at his ruffian jokes he thought I didn't get and yet understood too well. He could demolish plate after plate with sloppy chopstick-work and I couldn't help finding it endearing as I forced myself to eat politely, biting small amounts and chewing slowly.

"So how is your family?" I asked him, ordering another plate for him.

"Good! Grandma's a little sick but the other day she beat up some man with her cane for trying to steal from the shop," he laughed and I hid a chuckle behind my hand. There was silence for more than ten seconds which was a rarity with him, even when eating. I looked at him to see him staring at my face and I fought the urge to bop him on the head or quirk an eyebrow so I just tilted my head slightly and said,

"Is something wrong?"

The boy frowned at me and set his chopsticks down.

"You're different here. I don't like it," he said, and I was taken aback by his eyes, by the tone of voice, by the words. It was comforting that some liked me more when not pretending to be the shy young woman I was at the inn but I had to be careful what Daishi saw. Not exactly because I was afraid that he would reject my real personality if he discovered it, even though that was a possibility, but because he would become suspicious of my motives if he knew I was faking my personality. He was a rich and notorious man who was sure to be targeted and it was clearly known that even women could be assassins.

"We all have reasons for why we act," I said, flipping my chopsticks over and tapping his nose. "Now finish that up, your mother must be waiting for you."

O

That night I went down to have tea and once again Daishi approached me. I had been afraid that by eluding him once he might move on but I had judged right in thinking that he was a man that persisted for what he wanted.

"I hope I'm not intruding, Yato-san," his voice melted over me and, ready, I let a small smile take over my lips.

"Of course not, Daishi-san. Please join me," I offered, serving tea easily into the cup that the attendant brought us. I had been playing it cool for a couple of weeks but this was my opportunity. A few exchanged looks and words, brisk meetings, it had all piled up for one opportunity.

"I don't mean to pry but what business are you attending in this part of Water Country?" he asked, a smile adorning his strong jawed face. I sipped at my tea; calm, natural, as I prepared my story.

"I am searching for some information. I was sent by my village who has been frightened by these bursts of chakra, I'm sure you have heard of them," I lied with a sad look, downturnign my eyes, keeping myself demure.

"Information? Why have they sent a woman such as yourself for such a task?" he asked. I smiled a little with real melancholy.

"With this war still raging men are needed for other jobs. I am the fiancé of the son of my village's leader and so trusted with this job," I said. Admitting I was 'taken' was a risky choice but if I had judged him correctly then it would only increase my appeal.

"I see. And what payment have you brought for this information?" he asked, and his voice had an edge. Like want or anticipation.

"Payment, Daishi-san?" I asked, and I raised my eyes and met his in that instant. Dark, dark, dark.

"Yes," he said, leaning forwards slightly, as if he couldn't help it. "Surely your village did not expect you to find information without something to bargain with," he murmured and I set my tea down, watching him.

"In these times of poverty, Daishi-san, they had no other option. I must give whatever I can to whoever offers the information," I said softly back, and averted my eyes again, as if shy of my words. I could feel his eyes like a dagger against my skin.

"Then I may have something you might be interested in, Yato-san," he said, his voice as pseudo warm as the lanterns over us. My eyes fluttered towards him again, my body tilting slightly as if to protect itself.

"What are you referring to, Daishi-san?" I asked, feeling a thrumming starting inside me. The adrenaline of a chase, of the game.

"I may have the information you're looking for," he said, and excitement peeked in my veins. There was a chance he was bluffing but if he wasn't...then I may have reached jackpot.

I gripped my tea cup and looked eagerly at him.

"I have nothing to pay you with, Daishi-san, but if there is something I have that you desire..." I suggested with a look of complete innocence. His smile widened a little, eyes flickering over me.

"You may. Come to my room and see if the information I have is worth your time," he said, getting up, confident of my response. I looked up at him, blinking grey eyes.

"Should we not appoint a price beforehand?" I asked, keeping up my reserved attitude. Daishi only grinned, a charming smile that was obviously practiced and overused.

"A price must be equal to that which is offered. Trust me," he added, and extended a hand to help me up. I regarded him for a moment before biting my tongue and taking his outstretched limb as I got up.

Into the lion's den I went.

OoO

His room was luxurious and large, filled with rich items and expensive looking materials. The light was turned low, only one lantern lighting the large room in a flickering, ominous glow.

"Would an escort not be more appropriate, Daishi-san?" I suggested, looking around in a judging of the room. Hayato looked at me with half a smile.

"This information is private, Yato-san. Unless you have someone of trust?" he suggested. Slowly I shook my head and sat on the offered space beside the low table, folding my legs beneath me.

He sat, instead of opposite me, beside me, much closer than would have been of comfort, and I faked that even though a sly smile crept under by skin.

"Have you heard of the tailed demons, Yato-san?" he asked suddenly and I frowned a little, genuinely, at his questions.

"Vaguely," I admitted. I barely knew anything about them expect the hints of some old, forgotten myths I could not recall. My childhood had not exactly been rich in education.

"They say that every couple of centuries one of the nine tailed demons are born inside someone. Sometimes they coincide and the world bears many of the demons at once, whilst other times the world is unburdened by them," he started. I was startled by his lack of play, by the straightforward way he conveyed the information. If I hadn't been I skilled ninja I would have been alarmed because that only meant that whatever price he would ask for he would get it. And knowing his reputation, I had a good idea of what he wanted.

"What causes these demons? And what have they to do with what my village seek to be reassured of?" I questioned. Daishi smirked, enjoying the power knowledge gave him.

"You see, these demons are extremely powerful. Some people say that they have no heart, and no conscience, for they are made purely out of chakra of the darkest kind; lust, wrath, power. And of course, aren't those all traits that humans have?" he smiled. I tilted my head slightly, still not quite understanding.

"So are these bursts of chakra demons being born?" I asked, my heart stilling at the though. There was something wrong about the whole idea.

"No, I don't think so," he rejected. "The 'birth' of demons into this world, despite how humans view it, is quite a natural process. As long as there is hate and wrath in the world, then the demons will exist, and will be locked inside humans."

"Then these bursts of chakra...what have they to do with them?" I questioned. Daishi shifted, leaning closer towards me, searching my face with his dark eyes.

"You see, there are some people who have chakra inside them, and can call upon that chakra and control it."

"Ninjas," I said ironically, and he nodded.

"The higher amount of chakra a ninja has, the stronger they can become. But of course, everybody always wants more," he said and I narrowed my eyes at the thought.

"So...you think there is a ninja out there who is trying to control one of these demons without being born with it?" I caught on. He smirked again, nodding.

"You are a fast learner, Yato-san. But not only control it. They would have to invoke it..."

"And those are the bursts my village is feeling," I finished for him in awe. There was ice beneath my skin, a weary knowledge that people like that could exist. It was like learning that another war was about to break out. I didn't need to ask why. For power, the answer would be. Whatever form that power would take, be it revenge or lust, it would be power at the core.

For a few seconds there was silence as I tried to process the enormity of the knowledge. What would a person do with so much power? What side were they on? How would anybody fight against it?

I seemed suddenly too aware of the man sitting so close to me and turned to look at him once again.

"Was that information useful, Yato-chan?" He asked and I didn't miss the change in suffix. I smiled gratefully as ideas churned in my mind.

"Very. Thank you, Daishi-san, for your generous collaboration," I said, making as if to get up. "I will be sure to discuss the price tomorrow and pay as soon as I can. It is late, however, and I should be-"

"Ah, but Yato-chan, this price must be paid tonight," he said and internally I twitched in disgust. Meh, it had been worth a try.

"What urgent this is it that you want from me?" I asked, and forced myself not to flinch when his finger traced the collar of my kimono.

"I ask for no protest," he whispered and pressed his lips against my jaw.

"Daishi-san!" I exclaimed, leaning away from him, but his hand was on my leg, the sleazy, sly bugger.

"Relax, Yato-chan. Your village said to pay whatever price, didn't they?" he said and slipped his hand under the hem, skin on skin and suddenly I was feeling extremely exposed. I wanted to get out of there without ninjutsu being used but this guy was strong, pining me down more with shock and disgust than anything else, really. But desperate means called for desperate measure. I tried linking my hands for a ninjutsu sign when suddenly,

"What the-" he was pinning my hands flat on the ground, my back hitting hard. My fingers were spread out, unable to form any sign without breaking them in some way. My feet were also pinned my his knees, legs opened and leaving me incredibly vulnerable.

"Did you think I didn't have you figured out, little nin?" he teased, his voice much darker than it had been seconds ago and my eyes widened. Man it sucked when it turned out it was me that had been played all along.

"How did you- get off me you freak," I grunted. There was no way in hell some civilian was going to get the better of me and then- a hand sliding up my leg- rape me. But I was suddenly scared and anxious and panicking because sure I had killed and fought and suffered but never had I been in such a degrading position as that.

"Ah-ah-ah, fair is fair. I gave you information. This is my price. You have no right to deny me this," he said and leaned forwards, crashing his lips to mine, invading, opening.

Oh shit no.

I bit his tongue, lifted my head up sharply and slammed my knees shut at the same time. Using the momentum and surprise I twisted us around, managing to slide my hands from his and as he crashed into the floor I created a water clone out of nothing, pinning him to the ground.

"How dare-"

"Oh shut up," I cut him off, his wild eyes burning holes in me as I twisted my lips in disgust. The look of a man who had not gotten what he wanted. But that was life. I felt no remorse for cheating him out of the information.

"Goodbye, Daishi-san," I snarled and with that promptly knocked him out. He had assumed that even though I was a ninja that by being a woman he would be able to overpower me. Maybe next time he wouldn't be so quick to judge.

I let myself rest on the floor for a moment, breathing deeply and adjusting my clothes with trembling hands. I never wanted to be in that kind of mercy again. Just thinking of the women who had been caught in his trap and not had the skills to deflect him sent a shiver into my heart.

Getting up I fixed my clothes with trembling hands, looking down at the man who had been useful to me but...yeah, still a creep. I kicked him in the stomach for good measure and got out of the room. My things were already packed and the room paid for. I had to get out of there.

I left the parasol behind and leaped into the wet air of Water Country, aiming for the house of the kid I had befriended. I spotted him in his usual space and landed next to him, startling him and making him step into a puddle. I smirked down at him as he stuttered up at me, obviously astonished at my gear and red hair.

"Yeah, it's me. Here," I pushed a package with the kimonos and thins I had bought which I would not longer need, and would only slow me down.

"W-what, K-kiyoko?!" he exclaimed. I smirked and nodded.

"Give that you mum, ok brat? Nice meeting you, but I gotta go. Take care." I said and with a wave and a poking of his nose I leaped away into the rain and spray, a heavy mind despite my smile.

This world needed no more demons.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N

Heeey guys...

Sorry about the delay. I wrote this a couple of days ago but thought I'd stop pissing about and just do the Monday thing again. This is betad but not proof read. I hope you like it.

Er, as you see by this chapter the last 'one' was a joke, which I didn't think through so now you can't review this one but if you wanna, you can do it by going offline and leaving your name and email or just send me a message and be nice to me, who needs it.

:)


	19. Chapter 18

_**Thunderstruck**_

_Eighteen _

The information I had gathered was burning a whole inside my mind. As I travelled from town to town, everything seemed to make more sense. Part of me had hoped that what Daishi had said was misinformed, pure assumption or a trick, but the more I thought about it, and the more holes I filled with the information, the more everything seemed to fit together.

Dark bursts of chakra in misfortune-struck places seemingly without a purpose. No traces of use, or result. Just an aftermath of destruction and acidic power. It made sense that the intention was to summon some kind of creature which was eluding the controller. I had travelled to a particularly bad and abandoned battle field, and it was with mourning eyes which I witnessed the catastrophe. From hill to hill the land had been murdered. Ruptured, charred, scared, savaged. There were a few crispy stumps of sliced trees beside upturned mounds of land, ransacked with black, from fire jutsus not doubt. In the middle there was a large area of upturned soil, where the nearby villagers had probably mass-buried the victims to fend off the crows and wild animals seeking a free meal. I wasn't sure even animals would near the area, however, for as I neared the pit a malevolent aura hung upon the air like a curse. I instinctively winced and took a step back, choking slightly. I had never felt anything like it. Spiders under my skin; crawling, consuming. The fine hairs on my body raised in goosebumps, a shudder of disgust shaking me as my chakra flared in retaliation. It might of well have been Takeo under that soil, just broken limbs and summoned demons.

I clenched my jaw and fisted my fists and stared at the scene we ninjas had created. It wasn't exactly pain; not piercing or burning. But it was defiling. Horrifying. Suddenly I couldn't breathe enough. My chest was contracting as if every horror I had ever witnessed, every person I had failed, suddenly came back to haunt me, devour me. My Family, my Village, my best friend. All the blood on my hands, all the things I had abandoned.

I ran out of there as quickly as possible, needing to breathe. It was a full five minutes of mindless running when I stopped and realised I was crying and shaking. I collapsed on the forest floor, afraid that I wouldn't be able to breathe in deeply enough.

My brother on the floor. The fire at my back as he screamed, screamed, screamed.

The old lady in her chair. Alone.

Takeo's sightless eyes. Green, green, green and then black.

I dug fingertips into the soil, curling into myself. I needed something, someone, something to tell me it was ok. That these things got better. That is was a panic, not a heart attack.

I slept there that night, passed out from exhaustion. Cold and alone and running from something I couldn't see in my nightmares.

O

Two weeks later, still having nightmares but trying desperately not to think about the feeling that battlefield had evoked, I was once again chewing internally at the information, making it walk circles around my mind as I walked into a tea shop. The very scent calmed me down and I ordered Camomile as I sat down. I was near Sand village and the inside of the shop was a relief from the scorching outside. I had presumed the stay would be fairly uneventful when, as my drink arrived, I heard a sentence that stilled me.

"It's the first time in decades that a Konohagakure Hokage is changed by a cause different than death," a blond woman was telling her companion who had her hair in dark ringlets and decorated her face with a splash of freckles across her nose. By brain stopped as it drew the obvious conclusion.

Minato.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised but when I was travelling it always seemed as if Minato belonged to another world. Any news of him was alien and nostalgic and, on top of that, such news as the fact that he had been chosen, and accepted the role as leader...the strongest ninja of leaf...

"He must be very formidable to attain the title without even a fight, but a simple acknowledgement from the current Hokage."

"I hear he's handsome too," one giggled.

"And single," the second one smiled jokingly. I choked even though I hadn't sipped my drink. What a blow to the ego; I was none existent in all things Konoha. I couldn't really complain though, it wasn't like it was Minato's choice to seem single.

"Erm, excuse me," I interrupted, making them look at me as I grinned good-naturedly. "I couldn't help but overhear you conversation. May I ask who you are talking about?" I said politely and the women smiled in return.

"Namikaze Minato he's called, from Fire Country. He's being crowned Hokage of his village in a few days. I think Fire Country is promoting the news to make it clear to Earth Country that they have various powerful ninjas in their ninja village," the blonde one replied. The other one snorted slightly.

"Just showing off, if you ask me."

"Oh, hush, its political war tactics."

I thanked them and stared into my steaming tea, winded. Hokage. The word was huge in my mind. I couldn't even believe it. Not only was it power and responsibility and a formidable title, but it meant so any things for Minato. It planned out his whole life, just like that. I finished off my tea, my restlessness propelling me forward as I tried to process the fact that Minato was going to take in the full, monumental, caging responsibility of leading a ninja village at the edges of wartime. He would probably never or rarely leave the village again for the rest of his life...

What a frightening thought.

I, who had done nothing but travel, nothing but run, found the mere thought of being tied down to one place terrifying. And considering I loved Minato...

I shook my head. I didn't have to decide anything yet, as much as it stressed me.

And the more I thought about it, the prouder I was. Minato, leader of a village. Honoured and acknowledged and with the power to make a difference. He would make a great Hokage. Not only strong but fair and kind and understanding.

I let the fear and anxiety and thrill and happiness and pride shoot through me until I knew I had only one option.

I had to see Minato's introduction as Hokage. I couldn't miss it for the world.

OoO

I doubled my chakra over as I passed the incredibly tight security around Konoha. I had had to undergo an energy test by a person I had known half my life to assert it was indeed Uzumaki Kushina who was going to see Minato put shackles and crowns on. As soon as I stepped inside the gate, butterflies came to life inside my stomach. The town was decorated in honour of the crowning. Golds and reds were threaded through the houses, through the trees and banners and air. I was surprised at what level of festivity Konoha could achieve in the middle of wartime, but if there was one thing Minato had always been good at it was to fight for hope where hope was dying.

The streets were deserted, shops barred and doors locked. The entire village was gathered beside the Hokage tower, I assumed, overlooked by the legendary cliff-face statues of our ancestors. I quickened my pace, leaping on roofs so I wouldn't be stuck behind the civilians. As I cleared a set of high buildings I let my eyes take in the scene that my ears had been hearing since I had stepped into the village; the mass of chattering, happy, cheering villagers, a burst of colour and energy. The shinobi were lined by level at both sides, with the counsellors behind Minato and Sarutobi, who stood on the roof of the Hokage tower. I scowled for a moment at them as I let myself stop at the closest roof, but let my eyes fall on the grinning form of Minato. He was dressed in the ceremonial robes, with the large, triangular hat posed over the unruly yellow hair. His eyes would fall on the clapping, happy people below him and then to the now ex-Hokage. I could barely wrap my head around the concept of Minato being Hokage. The official leader. After all this time...and all the work, and sweat and blood and grief and laughs.

"To lead the village into a time of peace. Trust in him to protect us from all ill that may seek our destruction, and defeat, with our help, our enemies. Using not only power and skill but kindness, understanding and empathy, cheer on out new Hokage. Namikaze Minato is proclaimed our leader and light through these dark times and with our support we will banish this era of hardship!" Sarutobi exclaimed, finishing his speech, and stepping down as Minato took the forefront as the crowd wailed and cheered for him. I felt my blood rush with pride, with the knowledge that if anyone could get Konoha safely through the war, Minato was the one to do it best. He deserved it. He was the strongest of them all. I had heard of other countries instructing their shinobi to flee at the sight of him. Such reputation was meant for nothing short of glorification.

"As I have always said; If the leader is brave, so shall the soldiers me. Let my strength not substitute yours, but aid you though all troubles!" He proclaimed and even the shinobi cheered, the masked ANBU clapping beside them, like still, upright animals. Suddenly, most probably noticing my chakra signature, Minato looked towards me and the blue pierced straight through as we looked at each other. The new leader of the Ninja Village. He smiled, is whole face lighting up and I felt myself doing the same, the wind rippling our clothes, his cape fluttering widely as the sunset lit up the sky behind me, colouring the glazed clay of the roofs on oranges and yellows, making the decorations glitter, and the blue in Minato's eyes be bluer still. I nodded at him and h nodded back, looking away. I blinked away tears as Minato grinned to the crowd, the ceremony over. The people cheered so loud I was half afraid the enemies would hear them and come running, but it was no moment for bloodshed. I fisted my hands hard and grinned at Konoha's new leader, feeling a single drop of salty water trail down my cheek.

O

The elders and Yondaime Hokage (the words were still utterly foreign in my mind) had left to discuss politics, no doubt. I had seen Jiraiya, his characteristic cross-armed stance and an unparalleled pride on his face as soon as I had reached the ceremony. I headed towards him, feeling shaken, almost detached from myself. I had to get used to the idea that Minato, just Minato, was now in charge of Konoha. That the pupil of this man had made it that far.

"Oi!" I shouted, and unceremoniously kicked Jiraiya at the back of his knee, too distracted by staring at woman to side-step me. He face-faulted onto the ground and I laughed loudly, mixing with the noises of the people setting up stalls and passing around drink in celebration.

"You brat! Your greeting skills leave much to be desired," Jiraiya grumbled, getting to his feet, but I could see the smile in the wrinkles beside his eyes.

"How's it going, old man?" I asked, and he frowned at me, posed on his high sandals.

"I'm no old man, brat! Be careful or I'll have to teach you what the legendary Sannin can do!" he threatened. I just laughed in his face, walking forwards with him, intent on wasting away the hours until Minato was released. We were about to enter a recently opened and already packed bar/restaurant when someone shouted,

"_You_!"

I turned around and had to do a double-take at the pair standing a few feet from us. A young girl with short black hair and a friendly face, red rectangles marking her cheeks and the unforgettable boy with striking silver hair. Kakashi and Rin sure had grown up. Curves for the girl and lean, dangerous muscles for him.

They still looked like brats to me.

"What is up with your face, Kakashi? Every time I see you, a little more is covered up," I teased as the pair approached us, Rin still pointing her finger at me. Kakashi, to my surprise, shrugged and, of what I could tell, smiled a little instead of staying impassive. Rin, however, I could tell knew the reason for the masks.

"Woah. Did you just smile? Quick, Jiraiya, check the shinobi manual to see if that's allowed," I grinned, and Jiraiya smiled at us, shaking his head.

"Leave the kids alone, Uzumaki," Jiraiya said, though we could tell he was amused.

"Well, dumb-dumb, where's dumber?" I asked. Rin tilted her head in question but I saw Kakashi's eyes flicker.

"Goggles-kid. The Uchiha," I clarified despite the sinking feeling in my stomach. All amusement went straight out of Rin's expression. Her eyes went from Kakashi to the floor, shoulders tensed, mouth taunt.

"He's dead." Kakashi's voice was low, flat. I let my smile drain. Dead? The smiling, jumping, excitable kid was...dead?

"I see," I said. What else was there? Sorrys and scars and it-will-get betters. Lies.

"Well, no use standing around here. Let's go inside," Jiraiya interrupted. I wondered who had consoled Minato after one of his pupils died.

"Yes, before all the food is gone," Rin said quietly, and we entered the bar, subdued.

Life is little more than funerals and festivals, it seemed.

O

It was hours later when Minato caught up to us. I had stayed with Jiraiya, wanting to tell both of them what I had learnt about the bursts of chakra as soon as possible. The moment I saw Minato, still clad in the Hokage clothes, the information went straight out of my head. I felt my face split in a grin similar to his own as I let him wrap his arms around me, squeezing back with force, smelling the soft scent of him as we hugged. He hadn't changed much from the last time I had seen him. His hair was a little longer, and he seemed so much more professional and mighty in those legendary clothes. But it was still the same smiling, fair Minato who I loved that was crushing me in his grip.

"Kushina...I thought you wouldn't come in time," I heard him murmur and I shook my head, forehead against his shoulder, feeling the cloth on my cheek.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I whispered back, and tilted my head up to pull him down for a kiss when Jiraiya said,

"Ok, kids, settle down!" I felt Minato's chuckle as I turned around to face him, rolling my eyes but grinning.

"Says the pervert," I grumbled, and Minato put his arm around me, kissing my head.

"So, what's this you have to tell us, brat? I have to get my beauty sleep, you know," Jiraiya said, and I rolled my eyes again, but took a deep breath and began explaining. There was little use of sugar-coating or procrastinating the news.

I told them everything I knew. About the chakra bursts. The locations, the destruction. How it was possible to summon demons. How if something was possible to get more power, a human would do it. By the end both men looked grave and quite, reverting from playful to ninjas. They asked me all the questions they could but my knowledge was limited. It was an hour later when we had spent the subject, and sat in tired silence. In the end Jiraiya simply sighed and stood up.

"Well, it's good to know, but there is not much we can do about it now. It would be a good idea to talk to the elders, Minato, but that can be dealt with tomorrow." Minato nodded, knowing this, and smiled a little.

"Yeah. We'll deal with it in the new day. I think it's time to rest now," he agreed and I stretched, also getting to my feet. As Jiraiya was turning away with a proud pat on Minato's shoulder he suddenly looked at me and asked,

"Where did you get this information anyways?" I scratched the back of my neck, awkward, and looked away.

"Just, you know...around," I said. Jiraiya lifted his eyebrows as I glanced at him.

"Around? You mind being more specific? It may be useful." To my horror, I started blushing, and saw Minato looking at me curiously.

"Erm...I was informed by Daishi-san," I said grudgingly and just as I expected, Jiraiya's expression turned from surprised to amused.

"Daishi? Really? I see..." he chuckled. I glared at him and Minato frowned at us.

"What?" he asked, confused. Jiraiya shrugged, a casual wave in the air as he started walking away.

"Oh, nothing. Just that the only way to get information out of Daishi is to sleep with him."

I cringed as Minato looked at me, eyes burning, jaw hard.

"I didn't do anything!" I said guiltily. Whoops.

Why did this always seem to happen to me?

O

"And that's what happened. OK?" I said. We were sitting on his bed, squeaky clean after a shower. Minato was staring at me with a frown. Looking tired. I sighed. "OK?"

"...he kissed you. And he almost..." he trailed off, frowning harder. I was always amazed at how an easy-going man's expression can turn him so dangerous looking.

"Oi, have a little faith. He 'almost' nothing. You saying a civilian is a match for me?" I asked, and he relaxed a little.

"No, but-"

"But nothing then. Relax, ok. I went in, got the information, went out. No problem," I soothed. Minato stilled for a couple of seconds before nodding slowly. I smiled at him and we sat there a little, until,

"So how did you do it, exactly?" Minato asked, with what I guess was morbid curiosity.

"Do what?"

"You know...seduce him." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Are you suggesting I don't seem like the type of woman that can seduce someone?" I asked. He blushed a little, shaking his head.

"No, no...I was just..." he trailed off and I laughed. Ladies and gentlemen, Konoha's Hokage.

"I just...acted all wishy-washy, subdued kinda thing. It wasn't that hard once I got the hand of it. Like..." I changed demeanour in a second. My whole body language and expression shifted to demure; shoulders down, knees bent neatly and gracefully, hands clasped gently in front of me. I let my eyelashes fall over my eyes, looking down, tilting my head down and blushing lightly, something that had taken me a while to master.

"As you wish, Namikaze-sama," I said softly, and with a slight movement subtly let the material on slide down to expose my shoulder, correcting it as if it had been a mistake but going as slowly as possible, letting my fingertips bush against my own skin, making him wish it was his hand lifting the shirt. When I looked up shyly, however, I saw Minato looking at me with a darkness in his eyes that was not desire, but anger. His jaw was hard and expression not amused in the slightest. Before I could even protest, he had me pushed against the head of the bed painlessly but firmly, eyes almost narrowed, they looked so dangerous. In that moment I thanked fate that this man was my ally in the war.

Ladies and gentlemen...Konoha's Hokage.

"That is not you," he said slowly, gravely. I raised an eyebrow at him despite his intimidating pose.

"I know; it was just an act. That's why they call it acting," I drawled, but Minato's expression didn't change.

"You don't need to do that to get information. To...to degrade yourself like that," he said, and my temper flared instantly. I pushed him away, and he sat back on the bed as I glared at him.

"Degrade? _Degrade?_ You have people killing, mutilating, slaughtering each other out there, and you say I'm degrading myself by seducing someone into giving me such valuable information?! We are in the middle of a _war_, Hokage-sama, in case you haven't noticed," I said acidly. I would not be made ashamed of using my body to get information when others do little more than torture to reach the same end. I hadn't even slept with the man!

"I know, Kushina...look it's just I don't...like you doing that sort of thing," he said, frowning, but backing away. I knew where he was coming from. He was saying this as a lover, not a Hokage, but...

"And what would you have me do instead, Minato?" I asked a little more calmly but still with an air of hotness.

"Be a part of Konoha, that's what! Fight with us and-"

"Be a part of Konoha?" I interrupted. "I think we found out how much of a part of Konoha I am the last time I was here, Minato," I said quietly. We stared at each other in silence for a beat before he said,

"Well I'm Hokage now. Things are going to change."

I sighed, looking down, and Minato grabbed my hand, pulling me forwards. I let myself fall into him as he shifted, opening his legs so I could be held against his chest, his chin on my head. I sighed again but smiled.

I didn't know what to think. It was always the same with us. Fights and make-ups, all for the same reason. Me. Because he was Hokage-material and I was living life as if I were a fugitive. It was as if I were playing a mere game whilst Minato was doing the real deal.

But at the same time...I remembered what happened the last time I had tried breaking up with him. He had said it was his decision to make. And even though love is blind and sometimes people can't see what is best for them, I was selfish enough to want to keep Minato despite it all.

"Minato...I..." But I didn't have anything to say. I twisted in his arms as he watched me and for a second we just looked at each other before I leaned upwards, his hands rising to cradle my face. We pressed against each other chastely; once, twice, before I opened my mouth over his and he did the same, letting our tongues slide against each other in a dance that was enchanting, intoxicating. I slid my hands across his chest, feeling the hard plains of his body, the touch I missed every time I left. The touch he begged to know why I even left in the first place.

"Minato, Minato..." I whispered as he pushed back unto the bed, threading a hand in my hair, a faint dampness on it from the shower. My eyes fluttered open for a second before closing again as he lowered his lips across my face, a hand over my breast, already under my shirt and I moaned softly as I arched up against him, making him return to my mouth as I pulled at his hair, my hand lowering, making him want it as badly as me.

"I love you, Kushina. Don't leave me again." A whisper amidst moans and panting breaths and I squeezed my eyes shut tight, kissing him harder, pushing him closer, closer.

Never close enough.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N

_IIIIIII'MMMMMM BBBAAACCCKKK!!_

XD

Hey guys! Oooh, I've missed by little thunder baby. Between exams and real life and shit I know it's been a long while but I'm set to start the pace up again. I really really want to finish my other story 'Shiver', get it out of the way and concentrate on this and make it better because as this chapter kind of shows the quality isn't as good as I can make it. And there is so much to come! Though I swear each time I read the manga, it ruins part of my story and I'm just like uuuurgh.

But I'm in love with my story again, which is the best feeling ever, so review review review and keep it going.

Aaah. It's good to be back.

:3


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